Beyond the Door
by 4elementsfan4621
Summary: Natalie Trawick only knows her name, age, and her birthplace. Nothing of her past. Trying to fit in, Natalie journeys across Amestris in hopes of finding her memories and how she even got there.
1. Chapter 1

**Alright, I have recently got into FMA a couple of months back and finally decided to write this story. I am excited to start this story. FMA has become one of my favorite animes of all time. **

**Disclaimer: FMA doesn't belong to me, I only own my OCs.**

**XXXX**

I didn't know how I got here. My mind was a complete blank. A blur. I couldn't remember a thing. I felt…emotionless to say the least. Like I had no past, or had nothing to return to.

I was in a bed and the room looked like the house was built from good structure and support. There was a table to the left of me. The room was cleaned and was spotless. The room was pretty much barren except with the rocking chair to the far of the right in a corner.

I heard a soft knock on the door as a woman walked in. Her bright blue eyes stared into my own as she stared at me, raising her eyebrows at me, "Oh thank goodness she's awake." The dark brown haired woman approached me, her blue eyes, staring into my eyes, "Are you alright? My husband and my sons found you unconscious on the road."

"…I'm." I stammered, hesitating, trying to find the right words to say, "I'm fine. Thank you…who are you?"

The woman smiled at me, "My name's Ellen, what's yours?" she asked.

"Uhh…" I hesitated, again trying to think about what to say. I was struggling to find out what exactly my name was. Finally, the name Natalie popped into my thoughts, "It's-It's Natalie."

The woman, Ellen stared at me. Which sort of made me nervous, "You don't seem like you're from around here, sweetie."

"No," I replied, almost instantly, "I'm from America, I live in a small town off the outskirts of Chicago."

I could only remember my name and location and now, my potential age.

"America?" Ellen wondered, as if she never even heard of it. The girl winced, and tilted her head, "That's a funny way of saying Amestris."

I frowned at that. The voices in my head began to stir up again; I tried to remember what happened after I left my house that day. This seemed like a lot of information to take in. I knew I wasn't the age I was when I left, that's for sure. I was supposed to be…what? I hesitated once again, as if zoning out, but I was actually focusing. The age? What age was I before I came here?

I grew annoyed and frustrated and stop trying to figure it out. It was a blur to me. I still couldn't remember it.

I bolted out of the room, walking past Ellen as I walked into a small living room. I clutched my hand onto the table, hyperventilating slightly. Why was I having this feeling? What was it? Was it…panic? Fear? Anger? I couldn't explain it.

"Are you sure you're alright, Natalie?" Ellen asked me.

I nodded, "I…think so…"

Wait, now I remember what age I am supposed to be at; sixteen going on seventeen. Except, I look like I am six years younger than what I am supposed to be. This didn't seem right at all.

So, the only memories of myself I knew was my age, hometown, and my name.

There was someone behind Ellen now. It was a man, who looked to be the same age as Ellen. He had tan skin. He also had spiked up short, black hair.

"Good to see you're awake." The man greeted me, "I am Ellen's husband Matthew. Nice to meet you…" his voice trailed off, waiting for me to respond.

"I'm-I'm Natalie Trawick. Thank you for your hospitality, I really appreciate it." I bowed slightly, trying to be polite and be less shy. My mind, for some reason, got mad that I was shy. I didn't understand why exactly.

"You were out for almost two whole days. Are you feeling alright?" Matthew asked me.

"I'm…fine." I swallowed my spit in my mouth, taking a deep breath, trying to relax myself.

Matthew pulled up a chair and reversed it do the back was facing, "He sat down and crossed his arms resting them on the back of the chair. "How'd it happen? How come you got the wounds you'd had?"

I looked down at the floor, "I…don't know. All I remember is going out one day on a bike ride. It had to be a Sunday. My memory is a bit blurry."

"Just how injured was I?" I asked him.

"You had many scratches on your body and one of your ribs was bruised." Matthew answered, "Fortunately, Ellen is a former nurse and fixed your wounds here."

That felt like an understatement.

"Listen," Matthew began his lecture, narrowing his dark brown eyes at me; "You're not going to make any progress just by sulking in this bed. You have a better chance to regain your memories if you work hard."

I nodded in agreement, "I understand. But how?" I looked down on the ground, seeing an old book. I picked it up and stared at it, "Introduction to Alchemy?" I read, resting the book on my lap.

The word 'alchemy' perked my interest in my mind instantly. As if I was dying to know what this alchemy was.

"It's something I was interested in when I was younger." Matthew stated, "My boys wanted to learn, but they got interested in learning how to sword fight. They've been learning for about a year now."

"Sword skills? Alchemy?" I rose to my feet, "Matthew, is it ok, if I could look into both?"

The thirty two year old man nodded, "I think it would be beneficial to you learning more about yourself. Not to mention it could help you fend for yourself."

I smiled, "I think it's a good idea to. I am interested in both sword fighting and alchemy. They seem…interesting."

"I am sure you would get along with the boys, Natalie." Matthew stated, putting a hand on my shoulder.

I smiled at him. I was dead set on this. Learning alchemy and learning sword fighting. Seemed fun, or so I thought.

**XXXX**

Turns out, it was harder than I thought. Over the next few years, I worked very hard to get strength down as a fighter and alchemist, but the results over the few years was well worth it.

I had bonded with Ellen and Matthew's sons, Andrew and Nathan over the few years. Nathan was two years younger than me. While Andrew was a year older than me. Nathan was kind of shy and sweet, but could injury you if you ticked him off. Andrew was kind of arrogant and stubborn with all the talk he says. He always claimed that he was the best of the three of us, but I never let it bother me. The three of us were similar to each other yet so different. Nathan and Andrew were also my sparing partners and we would always try to have fun all the time when we were learning sword fighting. A year after I started learning alchemy, the boys wanted to learn it as well. So, I started teaching them what I had learned in the period of the year that I had been learning, which wasn't much, but beneficial to the simple terms of alchemy. Turns out, the boys were getting alchemy down faster than I was over a few years and I was totally jealous. It wasn't my fault I was a slow learner though. I still managed to be pretty good at alchemy in my opinion, so I was satisfied.

Now, I was almost seventeen years old and ready to travel. I knew I was strong enough now to leave Rush Valley and travel and also possibly find my memories and find a way to get home.

I had talked to Matthew and Ellen and told them what I was going to do. They looked a little sad when I told them I wanted to travel, but were happy about my determination on finding my lost memories, wherever they maybe inside my mind. I had to go find my family and everyone I once knew.

I started packing my stuff as I saw Nathan and Andrew in the doorway.

"Mom and dad told us you were leaving to go travel in search of figuring out a way to get your old memories back." Nathan stated, looking down. He looked really sad. As if he wasn't ready to say goodbye to me.

I smiled, ruffling his dark brown hair, "Don't worry, I'll come back and visit, I promise."

"Hey Nat." Andrew began, "Don't you dare come back being stronger than me." He joked, pointing his thumb to himself, "One day, when I am older, I am going to become a State Alchemist."

Andrew had been talking about becoming a State Alchemist since word got around about someone becoming a State Alchemist at the age of twelve. Which was almost three years ago when that boy became a State Alchemist. Andrew, looked up to Edward Elric, who was the Fullmetal Alchemist everyone was talking about.

I snickered and laughed at Andrew's joke, "Don't let your ego corrupt you." I joked as Andrew laughed with me.

"Sure, I will. When you get back here, I'll still be stronger than you!" Andrew smirked, looking smug.

I laughed, "Alright then. We'll see."

About twenty minutes later, the family that had token me in when I was ten. The family, I called my own now due to what kindness they have shown for me, were at the train station.

"So, where are you going first?" Andrew asked me excitedly, tugging on my arm.

"I think I am going to head to Central first. Learn a bit more about alchemy while trying to journey out to find some answers of my past." I shrugged, smiling.

"We wish you the best of luck Natalie." Matthew smiled.

"You're more than welcome to come home and visit us anytime." Ellen smiled.

I gave them a wave before walking towards the train door, but stopped before I could walk into the train, turn "I owe you guys so much. One day, I am going to make it up to you."

I bowed before running inside the train, giving the person by the door my ticket before sitting by a window of the train.

I could feel the train starting to move as I waved to Ellen, Matthew, Nathan, and Andrew until I could no longer see them, and leaned back on my seat, staring at the meadow and lively landscape as the wind blow through my brown hair.

I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. I was really nervous. Central was a giant city and I knew no one there. I was only a sixteen year old girl. What could I do in a giant city like Central? I didn't even know my way around the place.

I guess I can try to find a place where I can get a map when I get there. I was praising the Lord that I saved up a ton of money to travel doing a bunch of jobs in Rush Valley. Since Rush Valley was home to a bunch of automail shops, I learned how to build some things, but sadly nothing about automail. I wanted to learn so much about it, but sometimes, I was too busy with learning alchemy and learning how to fight. Rush Valley barely had any alchemists. So Nathan, Andrew, and I had to go to a small area not that far from Rush Valley for training instead.

I guess now I just stay hopeful and maybe get some answers when I get to Central.


	2. Chapter 2

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**Disclaimer: I don't own FMA, only my OCs!**

**XXXX**

"We've arrived in Central." I heard a voice stated.

Groaning, I opened my eyes, rubbing the inkiness out of my eyes. I've must've fallen asleep on the train all the way from Rush Valley.

I stood to my feet and walked as I heard steps and movements from various people in the train. Quickly grabbing my things, I ran out of the train and into the view of a dusty, crowded area of people.

I suddenly felt a flicker of fear hit me as quick as lightning. This area was so big and so crowded! How in the world was I going to find everything?!

I blinked in surprise as the memory suddenly snapped away from me in a matter of seconds.

I moved past the many crowds of people, trying not to get in everyone's way. I moved quickly as I got out of the train entrance and into the streets. Suddenly, dust from a car moved towards me, getting all over my clothes.

I coughed from the dust and tried to dust myself off. Many people walked past me, staring at me for a quick second and then going along with their business.

I wonder where I could find a map to the city?

I walked over to a nearby shop and saw a city map posted there. Quickly, I walked over to it and stared at the giant map.

Ok, so, I am going to assume I am here. I pointed to the map where it said train station and the place where the hotels are…I moved my finger down from the map where the map said many hotels were at. It wasn't that far from where I was at and I let my finger down and turned only to bump into someone, making me fall down on the concrete and something else falling down. A…kitten?

The kitten walked over to me and put its body against my leg, purring.

"Oh I'm sorry, miss." I looked up to see a tall suit of amour towering over me. He had to be seven feet tall. The amour guy reached his hand out to me, asking me if I wanted some help up. Sighing, I took his hand as he helped me up to my feet.

"It's ok, it was my fault for not watching where I was going." I admitted, shrugging my shoulders as the kitten was purring on my leg still.

"Aw, he likes you." The amour boy cooed. At least I thought he was a boy with the voice he had. It was calm and sounded very kind.

I picked up the kitten and pet it as it purred louder. Chuckling, I smiled, "It's so cute to." I snickered as the cat started licking my face, "Hey, stop! That-That tickles!"

The amour boy chuckled, rubbing the back of his head, "He really does like you." He reached his hand out, "Can I hold him?"

I stared at the kitten before smiling, "Sure."

I handed him the kitten as the amour boy as he turned away from me for a second before turning back, "Sorry for running into you like that." He bowed slightly, "What's your name? You don't look like you're from Central."

I raised both of my eyebrows suggestively at him, "How'd you know I am not from around here?"

"Well, you seem like you were lost." The amour guy admitted, shrugging slightly, "Oh, I'm Alphonose Elric by the way. You can call me Al if you want."

"Natalie Trawick." I shook hands with Al, "Nice to meet you."

It took me a minute to realize what Al's last name was. He said Elric, right? Does that mean…?

"Hey Al? Are you related to Edward Elric at all?" I questioned, putting my hands at my side.

He nodded, "You know brother?"

I blinked in surprise, "Oh no, I have heard of him. A friend of mine in Rush Valley looks up to him pretty well."

"You know people from Rush Valley?" Al asked me in shock.

I nodded and smiled, "Actually, that's where I came from."

"Al!" I heard a voice shout.

Al and I turned to see a boy running over to us. He wore a red coat and black attire. His eyes were a fiery golden yellow. His blond hair was tied into a braid.

"I've been looking all over for you." The boy noticed me, "Who's this Al?"

"Oh, brother, this is Natalie. I accidently bumped into her." Al responded, pointing at me.

I nodded and bowed slightly. Then realized what Al had called the boy, "Wait, Al, is this guy Edward Elric?"

The boy smirked in victory, "Finally someone who actually knows who I am without mistaking me for my brother. Yep, I am the Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric."

His arrogant smirk reminded me of Andrew's arrogant smirk every time he'd win a spar.

I raised an eyebrow at him, "People mistook your brother as you? That's kind of odd since word has spread that you have automail, but Al doesn't have automail, or so it seems like unless his body inside the amour does."

Ed stared at me, brushing his bangs out of his face before letting out a sigh, "Yeah, now that you mention that, that does make sense." He chuckled quietly, "So what brings you to Central, Natalie."

I froze, paling a little.

Make something up. My mind screamed. I don't wanna get special treatment for my amnesia. Heck, you barely know these boys; they don't need to know your problems. They probably have enough on their hands as it is. You don't wanna be a burden.

"Well, I wanna learn more about alchemy." I replied, brushing my hair out of my face, "Central seems to be the right place to do that so…here I am."

"You're an alchemist?" Ed wondered as I nodded.

"Been learning since I was ten. But I am ok at it. I don't see myself as a good or bad alchemist. I'm not a prodigy, that's for sure, way far from one."

Ed nodded, "Anyway, Al…" I suddenly heard a meow from Al's armor. Ed seemed to hear it to as a vein pulsed in his forehead, "Al, what was that?"

Al looked really, really nervous, holding his arms around himself, "Nothing, brother."

"You have another cat, don't you?" Ed glared at his brother, "You know we can't afford a stray cat."

"But he called out to me." Al protested, clenching his fists and putting them at his side.

"We can't handle another person!" Ed raged at his brother as I jumped from his outburst. Ed had startled me with his sudden rant.

Al sighed and walked away, turning to a corner, as if trying to hide something.

"Say Natalie." Ed began, "How old are you?"

I scratched the back of my head, "Sixteen almost seventeen. How old are you?"

"Fifteen." Ed replied, putting his hands in his pockets, "Al's fourteen."

I was holding in my laughter, clutching my stomach to keep myself from laughing, swallowing my spit, "And…your brother's seven feet tall. What's the matter? Did you get the short part of the stick?"

My mind had come to the conclusion I'd been around Andrew and Nathan both way too much. I was getting Nathan's kindness and being polite, but got Andrew's stubborn and arrogant attitude.

Ed looked like he was about to kill me as he lunged at me, "Who are calling so small you wanna crunch like an ant?!"

I crossed my arms across my chest and smirked, trying to hold in my laughter. I failed, causing myself to start laughing pretty hard.

"What's so funny?!" Ed demanded, "The fact that I am small?"

I continued to laugh.

Ed clenched his fist, "Why you little…?"

I prepared myself for Ed to attack me, but Al held him back by grabbing his coat.

"Al, let go. Let me at her!" Ed struggled in Al's grip, not breaking Al's grip on him at all.

"Brother, be nice!" Al scolded.

"But she called me short." Ed argued, kicking the air, still trying to get out of his brother's grip.

"Actually, I never said short." I responded, putting a hand on my hip.

"Yes, you did!" Ed shouted, pointing a finger at me. His nose was….puffing with smoke. Was that even possible?

"You said short." He continued to rant.

"Hey! Ed!" I heard a voice called.

Ed, Al, and I all turned to see a man in a military uniform running over to us.

Ed calmed down a little to my surprise, "Oh Lieutenant Colonel Hughes. What's up?"

I stiffened, straightening my back out slightly. My eyes almost went huge with surprise. This was a person in the Amestrain military. I better show some respect.

"The people back at HQ sent me to go find you. You're needed there." Hughes replied before noticing me, "Oh and who is this young lady?"

"Oh her." Ed glanced at me with a look of irritation. He was probably still mad that I called him short.

"M-My name's Natalie Trawick, sir." I replied, saluting Hughes.

"No need to be so nervous." Hughes stated, "And also, you're saluting with the wrong hand."

I suddenly felt really, really embarrassed. I did one of the most basic things in Amestris wrong. I smacked my forehead for my stupidity.

"I'm sorry." I bowed slightly, "I'm just…new to Central."

"Oh, you are?" Hughes asked as I nodded, "Where are you heading?"

"Just going to find a place to stay." I replied, brushing the hair out of my eyes.

"Oh, you could stay at my place if you want." Hughes offered, pulling out a pic of a woman and a little girl, "My wife and daughter will be delighted to have you!"

Was this guy…serious? He just met me? And he just gives me a place to stay.

"Don't worry, Natalie." Al began, putting a hand on my shoulder, "Mr. Hughes is a good person. He's helped us a lot."

"Uhh…" I stammered, hesitating.

Somehow, I feel that I can trust these people. I…know I might've just met them, but something in my gut tells me that I can trust these people.

So, willingly, I got dragged to going to Hughes' home. He kept obsessing over his daughter and his wife on the way there. I'd probably seen twenty pictures. Which made me question how in the world he could have so many pictures on him. And I swore the guy had gone a little insane.

Ok, maybe that was an understatement.

"Daddy!" I heard a child squeal. The door opened to reveal a little girl, who dashed over to Hughes to give him a hug. Hughes started gushing over his daughter again, making me laugh.

A woman with short blond hair approached me, "Hello, Come on in," The woman opening the door wider for me and gesturing me to follow her.

I had to remember. What did Hughes say her name was again?

Gracia?

That's sounds right.

"Uhh…your name's Gracia right?" I asked her, hoping that it was her actual name. Otherwise, I'd feel really embarrassed.

"That's right." Gracia nodded as we walked through the semi dark hallway, "And you are…?"

"Natalie Trawick." I smiled nervously. I was still having that feeling that I had when I was around new people, being shy. One of the many things I hate about myself.

"Maes told me that you just came here to Central. How do you like it so far?" Gracia questioned.

Maes? Oh yeah, that's right; that's Hughes's first name. Stupid bad memory!

"The city is huge. It makes Rush Valley look like a microscopic place, but it is a small town, after all." I admitted, shrugging.

Gracia stopped at a door at the end of the hallway.

"You can use this room," She said, opening the door to reveal a fairly nice bedroom. "You're welcome to stay with us while you're in Central." Gracia smiled sweetly at me. I returned it, thinking, she is definitely one of the kindest people I've ever met, taking me in without a word even though they didn't know me that well.

For the next couple of hours, I unpacked my stuff and read some of the alchemy books I packed. Reviewing some things didn't hurt. But, I came to Central for a reason. To get better at alchemy and to get my memories back.


	3. Chapter 3

**Alrightly, no reviews last chapter, so no review replies this time.**

**Shoutout though to Allycat826 for following this story. **

**Disclaimer, I don't own FMA. I only own my OCs.**

**XXXX**

It had been a two weeks since I had since I had arrived in Central. I had been reading more alchemy and studying it.

I finally walked out of my room that the Hughes family had given to me after hours of reading through alchemy. But now, I needed a break. I could always come back to it later.

Sighing, I walked to the kitchen where Gracia was trying to prepare for lunch.

Gracia looked up at me and smiled, "Oh hello, Natalie."

"Gracia, I wanted to take a break from reading. Is there any way I could help you with lunch?" I asked.

Gracia looked grateful, "Of course you can."

So, for the next half hour, I helped Gracia prepare lunch.

Once we were done, I called in Hughes and Elicia while Gracia set the table. I joined them for lunch, but tried to be quick as I remembered I had to take some alchemy books back to the Central library and was going to get some more alchemy books later.

"I'm sorry, I would sit here some more and talk, but I have to do something while it's still in my head. I'll be back soon." I bowed slightly.

I felt Elicia pull on my pants, "Will you play with me?" She asked sweetly.

Aww, she was so adorable. How could anyone say no to a face like hers?

I knelt down to her level and smiled, "I will when I get back, I promise."

"Be careful out there in Central, Natalie. Things have been a bit crazy here lately." Hughes warned me.

I turned back to him as my hand was inches away from the door, "I've been training with alchemy and fighting skills for six years, I'll be fine." I reassured him before turning back and opening the door, walking down outside.

I had been walking down the block for a couple of minutes when I heard a voice shout, "Natalie!"

I turned to see Al running down the road, Ed trailing behind him.

"Oh hey, you guys." I greeted, waving as they ran over to me.

I saw Ed and Al every once in a while as they sometimes came to the Hughes' house. Ed and I actually had a love hate friendship going on. He'd get mad at me for calling me small, and I would get mad at him for calling me darling. I don't know about every other girl in Amestris, but God, it pissed me off when someone called me darling. Al and I had gotten along pretty well. He was sweet, kind, and was a pretty intelligent boy.

Upon thinking about it, Ed and Al reminded me a lot of Andrew and Nathan.

"Where are you guys heading?" I asked.

"Well, we were supposed to go on a train to go to Liore tonight, but Colonel Bastard isn't letting us out until we catch someone for the military." Ed complained.

I snickered at what Ed had called his higher rank officer, "Oh, well, that stinks." I sighed, shrugging my shoulders, "Hopefully the guy gets caught by tonight then so you guys can go to Liore."

Ed sighed, looking like he was irritated with something, "That's what I hope for." He turned to me, "So what are you heading off to? Seems like you're quite the bookworm with all those books." He teased.

I twitched, "For your information, Edward Elric, this is alchemy book, I am trying to learn something that could help me."

I suddenly realized what I had just said. I still hadn't told Ed and Al about my amnesia.

"Help you? With what?" Al questioned.

"Uhh…" I stammered, trying to find the right words to say, "Well…I got to go take these books back to Central. Bye."

Before the two could stop me, I ran down the road, dodging at many people to avoid colliding with them.

Finally, I had gone to take back the alchemy books and get new ones. I read an alchemy book at library and stayed there for a while. I was still not getting any info on how to get my memory back. This was getting me really frustrated.

Ugh! Calm down, Natalie! You've only been in Central for almost two weeks! You'll get answers soon! But not this quick!

Why does everything have to be so dang hard to figure out?

It was dark now because I had wasted my time at the library trying to finish reading an alchemy book that I couldn't wait to read back at the Hughes house. Jeez.

Suddenly, I heard shouting and footsteps in the direction of a dark alley. Curious, I walked into the alley, looking around.

Suddenly, I saw a flash of light and a man screaming like he had died, causing me to run faster.

Damn it, Natalie. Don't run towards screaming. Run from it!

Why was I getting the feeling I was about to get myself involved in a big situation.

I spotted a man in a military uniform grabbing another man in the same matching outfit, freezing him instantly as the older man dropped his lifeless body, shattering into pieces the minute the lifeless body hit the ground.

My eyes widened in shock, backing up away from what I had just witnessed. I felt a flicker of fear hit me as quick as lightning from seeing the death. I had never seen anyone die in my life before. Well, the life I've had in Amestris.

But I wasn't going to die here. If I had to, I was going to fight till I had no energy if this military guy tried to kill me next.

"Step off the transmutation circle, girl!" The man's voice growled as he sent some ice towards me. I quickly moved out of the way of the attack before pulling out a piece of white chalk, drawing a transmutation circle as quickly as I could before putting my hands on it, transmuting a spear, throwing it at the man. He jumped back and dodged.

"Alchemy." The man observed, looking at the spear and back at me.

I swallowed all the fear I had from witnessing a death right in front of me and shouted at the man, gritting my teeth.

"Why did you kill those men?" I demanded, tightening my fists. I was mad; who gave anyone the right to kill someone. To murder their lives in cold blood?

The world is sick.

"You of all people should know great deeds require great sacrifices." The man laughed, "Isn't that the law of Equivalent Exchange?"

"Cut your crap." I glared, drawing a transmutation circle, "The laws of alchemy don't justify murder!"

I smacked my palms again. This time, transmuting a sword.

I gripped the sword tightly, taking a stance, "First of all, I have some questions; first, who are you?! Two, why are you killing your own comrades?"

"Own comrades?" The man laughed, "You mustn't be a dog of the military then. And you should understand that I am doing my best to save the country you live in, little girl. Also, I am the Freezing Alchemist also known as Freezer. A former State Alchemist."

I narrowed my eyes at him, keeping my distance from the Alchemist, "You think killing is going to help you save the country? Bloodshed, leads to more bloodshed."

I gave myself some congratulations on remembering that from learning about Amestris.

"But I hope you can realize how naïve you are, girl. The military don't give a damn about this country and is more than willing to kill us all to do it."

I blinked in surprise at the man's words, "It still doesn't give you the right to kill."

"Ah, shut up! If you get in my way, I'll kill you, brat." The Freezing Alchemist stated.

"I can't let you do that." I pointed the sword I transmuted at him.

And then I charged.

I swung my sword at him, but he dodged almost every swipe I had swung. His hand reached out towards me, but I flipped away from him. I quickly drew another transmutation circle, slamming my palms again on the transmutation circle. The blinding blue light from the transmutation made my eyes squint slightly as the transmutation sent a blast of earth towards the Freezing Alchemist but he dodge.

"Keeping your distance away from me. Smart girl." Freezer observed.

I knew if I wanted to stand a chance against this guy, I had to keep my distance from the guy to avoid getting frozen like the guy he killed in front of me.

I needed something else other than that. A plan or something…

"Hey! Stop right there!" I heard a familiar voice shout.

I heard footsteps coming from the shadows, a spear flew towards Freezer, but he dodged.

I skidded backwards in order to keep my distance from the guy as I saw Ed walk out of the shadows.

Uh, oh, I was going to have to explain myself big time later for ditching him without giving him any answers.

"You know, that's low." Ed began, "Trying to kill an innocent civilian." Ed realized that it was me that was the 'innocent civilian', "Natalie? What the hell are you doing here?" Ed shook his head, "You know forget it! We've got bigger things to deal with."

Ed picked up the spear and transmuted it into a spikey bat with his head at the end of it, pointing it at Freezer.

The military man looked surprised, "No transmutation circle."

"Don't be so surprise." Ed stated bluntly, "Now!"

I thought he was talking about me, but I felt a rush of wind as I saw Al running at the guy. I decided to jump in. Freezer tried freezing Ed's arm off, but failed and decided to throw Ed right into me.

Ed and I both hit the hard, concrete. And my head was spinning from the shock.

"Damn it!" Ed growled, charging at the guy again.

"Wait a minute." Freezer dodged Al's punch that was intending on slamming into his face, "Anyone could've boiled from that attack. Yet, you're still standing here."

"What? It didn't help that you ruined my coat?" Ed retorted, throwing his coat off.

"Automail right arm, a young gifted alchemist that doesn't need transmutation circles." Freezer suddenly realized who he was dealing with, "I know you; you are the Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric." He glanced at Al, "So, it's not you?"

Al scratched the back of his head nervously, "Uh no, I'm his younger brother Alphonse."

Freezer sweat dropped, "But, he's a runt."

Oh no…

"OH YEAH! CAN A RUNT DO THIS?!" Ed clasped his hands together and smacked them onto the hard ground, trapping Freezer in a transmutation.

"I've heard the stories but never imagine that the Fullmetal Alchemist is just a little kid." Freezer muttered.

Ed growled; again clasping his hands together, sending a giant hand at Freezer, knocking him to the ground, "DON'T CALL ME LITTLE!"

I was kind of scared of Ed for a second there. Maybe I shouldn't try to call him small anymore.

Oh well, it's entertaining to see his reaction.

"Uhh…Ed? I think he was talking your age and not your height." I stated.

Ed growled, a vein, pulsing in his forehead, "Well, even if he wasn't, he still pissed me off!"

I chuckled, "Ok, calm down. It's ok now."

"Mr. Elric!" I turned to see some men in military uniforms. This time, they walked over to Al.

I snickered as Ed look like he was ready to murder someone, "Damn it! I am the Fullmetal Alchemist, not him!"

Now, I couldn't hold in my laughter any longer, I starting laughing really hard.

"Oh, there was a civilian in this incident to?" The military man asked, glancing at me, "You're not hurt in any way, are you, miss?"

"I'm good." I nodded, smiling.

"Hey Natalie?" Ed whispered to me, "You were here before I was. Did that guy tell you anything important about anything?"

I shook my head, "Not really, no. Why do you ask?"

Ed shook his head, turning away from me, "It's nothing."

I noticed that he didn't wanna talk about this any longer, and sighed.

Ed fixed his cloak and put it back on, "Come on Al, we got a train to catch." He started walking towards the end of the alleyway.

"Uhh…ok, if it's ok to leave." Al muttered.

I suddenly heard a bang from behind me. Turning around, I saw Freezer had gotten out of his handcuffs and blasted some steam, blinding the other soldiers, Ed, Al, and me.

Ed coughed, "What was that? Steam?"

I was coughing to, "Seems like it."

As the steam went down, Ed, Al, and I noticed Freezer had escape.

"Brother, he's gone." Al observed.

Ed groaned, "Damn it, now he really pissed me off. Now we gotta report back to Colonel Bastard."

"Have fun." I stated cheerfully, sprinting back to the Hughes family home before some military men could walk over to us.

**XXXX**

I had return a few minutes later to the Hughes's house.

"Natalie? Is that you?" Gracia called from the kitchen.

I smiled, panting. I had ran all the way back, "Yep, sorry, I lost track of time."

"Natty!" I heard Elica squealed, tugging on my arm, "Let's play before dinner's ready!"

I giggled at her. God, she was adorable. She was like the little sister I never had.

I still had some scrapes from earlier to clean first.

"Hold on just a second." I smiled.

After cleaning the scrapes that I had gotten earlier, Elicia and I played for a bit. Suddenly, I heard the door opened as Elicia came running towards the door.

"Hello, my little princess!"

"Daddy, your beard is itchy!"

When I had walked out from the living room, I saw that Hughes had enveloped Elicia in a hug and they were nuzzling each other affectionately.

"Look, we have more guests!" Hughes gestured to Ed and Al. Who were standing at the door, "These are the Elric brothers."

Elicia hesitated before pointing a finger at Al, "Big brother." The she pointed to Ed, "Little brother."

Ed twitched as a vein pulsed in his forehead as I tried to hold in my laughter. I was shocked how well Ed was taking this though.

"Nice to meet you. My name is Edward Elric. This is my younger brother, Alphonse Elric. Get that?" He clenched his fist. "Young-er bro-ther."

"But younger means little." Elicia protested, "You're little."

That's when Ed lost it. Well, he never had it to begin with.

"GRRRR! WHO'RE YOU CALLING LITTLE, YOU LOOK IN THE MIRROR!" Ed growled, kicking at the air as Al held him back.

"Doesn't seem you can catch a break with the whole small thing." I chuckled.

Ed sighed, "Oh, shut up."

I giggled.

"I hope you kids are hungry. Gracia's cooking is delicious!" Hughes boasted.

I smiled and nodded, relaxing myself as my shoulders stiffened, "I hope so."

We all sat down at a table with so much food.

"Uuooh! This looks delicious!" I heard Ed shout with joy. He was sitting right across from me and started stuffing his face.

"Alphonse, how're you gonna eat with that armor on? Take it off, relax!" Hughes urged him.

You know, I kind of wonder why Al is always in that suit of armor. I never see him in his actual human appearance before.

Ed panicked a little, "He's not allowed to, he has to wear it all the time! It's, uh, it's part of his alchemy training, you know how it is! I'll eat enough for both of us!"

I wonder what got Ed so panicky about. Those boys were hiding something, but then again, so am I. I got no room to talk.

"Training! Choo choo!" Elicia cried out, causing me to snicker.

"Uhh…Hughes." I began, "The room I am staying in right now is the only guest room in the house."

"Oh yeah, that's right." Hughes realized, glancing at me and then to Gracia.

"No worries." I stood up, "I can crash on the couch tonight."

"You don't have to do that." Ed protested.

"It's not a problem." I reassured him.

I slammed my hand on the table as Ed flinched at me.

A while later, I was trying to get some sleep. The reason why I hadn't fallen asleep yet was because I was thinking about something…

I was contemplating a lot if I should tell the Hughes family about my amnesia. They did seem trustworthy, but I was still hesitant about it.

Finally though, I gave into sleep as my eyelids closed.

**XXXX**

The next morning, I played with Elicia for an hour or so before deciding to go out in the streets. Gracia had warned me to be careful with that Freezing Alchemist guy out there on the loose.

I saw the guy I saw from last night drawing another transmutation circle. In another freaking alleyway!

I sweat dropped. Did trouble somehow follow me like a lost puppy, or something?

"You again." Freezer noticed me, "Don't get in my way of trying to save this country."

I glared at him, "I don't understand what you are saying."

"The ruler of Amestris will lead us all to ruins." Freezer explained, "I am doing this to save it."

"Yet you take innocent lives? Those people try to protect their country from you, and I don't blame them! You nearly tried to kill me for just stepping on a transmutation circle! What does…whatever you're doing have to do with killing innocents?" I demanded.

A bunch of stone arrows burst out of the wall, one just missing me because it was in front of me by a centimeter or so. They would've impaled him if he hadn't jumped back.

"Impressive reflexes," A deep voice boomed. "You are able to dodge my alchemy so easily."

"I know that voice." Freezer growled. "Is that you, Armstrong?"

"Indeed!" A metal-gloved fist punched through the brick wall, and I almost screamed. I fell to the side, crawling away. I had a feeling that I was getting in over my head. "None other." The wall exploded and a man walked through. "It is I, the Strong Arm Alchemist, Alex Lois Armstrong in the flesh."

"Ah, shut it!" Freezer jumped back, slamming his palm in the ground, sending a line of ice or water or something at the muscle man, but the man dodged. "I've always wanted to chop that ego down to size!"

I backed up a little, realizing this fight was going to giant and I didn't wanna get caught up in this fight.

Armstrong had noticed me, "Civilians must flee!"

The two men started to fight; it was hard to figure out if I could run away from the fight. It was getting intense.

"Major!" I heard Al call out, and I saw him and Ed running to join the fighting.

Freezer threw a canteen that exploded, causing me to not see a thing. When the smoke came down, he was nowhere to be found.

"Smart, he knew he didn't stand a chance against all four of us so escaped." I noted.

"Natalie, what are you doing here?" Al questioned.

I shrugged, "I walked right into trouble again."

Ed slammed his hand to his forehead, "Are you a target for trouble or something?"

"Ok, save the arguing for later. Right now, we gotta catch that guy before he kills more people." I stated.

"The young lady is correct." Armstrong nodded at my comment, sparkling. Wait what? "After me, Elric brothers."

"Wait, I could help to, I am an alchemist." I stated, clenching my fists.

Armstrong hesitated before nodding, "Alright then, Miss…"

"I'll tell you my name later. Right now, we gotta move." I told them, as we starting running down the streets of the city, "Got any leads on where the insane guy maybe at?"

"I was thinking where you, Al, and I fought him last night." Ed responded.

I realized what Ed was getting at; the theory I made yesterday. That had to be it.

In time, Ed and Al had gotten ahead of Armstrong and me by a few feet as they suddenly ran back over to us, a giant pillar of ice moving towards us. I started running away from the giant ice pillar myself. Armstrong was still standing where he was at and tried to smash the ice pillar with his alchemy, but failed as the pillar of ice went to the left.

I noticed that all around us, red lights were shooting up from the air in various directions of Central.

"What're you doing?! You're making it worse!" Ed yelled at Armstrong, "Major! Al and I will distract him. You and Natalie handle the transmutation circles."

"Consider them erased." Armstrong nodded.

I watched as Ed and Al ran after Freezer. I walked back over to where the transmutation circles were and started messing up the chalk.

"Maybe it's best if we split up." I offered.

Armstrong nodded, "Good luck, Miss Natalie."

I nodded, "You to, Major."

I ran around Central, finding as many transmutation circles as I can and ruining them as much as I could. Either by smearing the chalk or drawing over the chalk myself or even using my alchemy abilities to. The transmutation circles were easy to find. Since there was red light in the directions of all the transmutation circles.

I caught up with Armstrong, who was now with a military man with dark hair and dark eyes.

"I got everything down on my side." I panted, putting my hands on my knees, looking down at the ground. I never stopped running at all since Armstrong, Ed, Al, and I ran after Freezer.

"Who's she, Major?" The military man asked.

"This is Natalie." Armstrong introduced me, "She helped me with getting rid of all the transmutation circles."

"Oh, and who's idea was to have non-military personal to help?" The military man demanded.

I suddenly got really nervous. There was a problem helping?

"I volunteered in my defense." I replied.

"Oh well." The military man muttered, "It's not like I can change what has happened." He held out a hand, gesturing me to shake it, "My name's Lieutenant Colonel Roy Mustang. Thank you for your help."

I shook his hand, "Not a problem, Colonel. I was caught in a middle of a fight I should've have not gotten involved in, but then again, the guy nearly tried to kill me last night. But it was my fault getting involved." I chuckled nervously, scratching the back of my head, "Anyways, are the all the transmutation circles taken care off?"

"The Major just got the last transmutation circle." Roy explained.

"Whew." I sighed in relief, "Thank goodness."

"Right now, we need to find Fullmetal, Al, and Freezer." Roy explained.

"Hopefully the Freezer guy is taken care of." I sighed, straitening my back as we ran and eventually founding Ed and Al standing in front of a corpse under a sheet, with military guys all around. A guy with an eyepatch was there, talking to them.

"The Colonel and I should go." Armstrong stated as he and Roy ran off.

"Oh, you guys are safe!" I waved and ran over to Ed and Al.

Ed sweat dropped, "Yeah, we're fine."

I noticed the puddle of blood that was there underneath the sheet and resisted myself from gagging.

"What's wrong, Natalie?" Al asked.

"I…hate…blood." I muttered, feeling like I was going to puke.

I had a fear of blood for quite a while now. I think ever since that day into the first month of learning alchemy with Nathan and Andrew when I had gotten hit pretty hard during a spar.

If it ever was on me, God freaking help me!

"And who is this, now?" The eyepatch man smiled at me.

I suddenly got really nervous; more than I was a second ago. I was getting shy again, as usual. Not to mention some military men make me really, really nervous.

This guy was one of them.

"Ed." I whispered to the alchemist, "Who is this guy?"

"That's Fuhrer King Bradley." Ed whispered back.

Oh God…the leader of this country? Whoops, I need to show more respect.

"Oh I'm-I'm Natalie, it's-it's a p-pleasure to meet you, Fuhrer Bradley, sir!" I saluted him.

The leader of Amestris laughed, "You're using the wrong hand!"

I was embarrassed as I switch hands, "S-sorry!"

Bradley chuckled, "It's fine. It was a pleasure meeting you, Miss Natalie."

"Ye-Yeah." I swallowed; trying not to be nervous again, but still was acting really nervous due to the fact that I had made the mistake of saluting with the left hand, again and also because I was being a fool again.

I then noticed that Ed was injured, "You really should go to the hospital for that, Ed."

"I don't need your…" Ed began, but then winced in pain from his wound.

"Brother!" Al scolded, "Natalie's right; you need to get that wound treated."

"Yeah, it might knock down your height if you don't." I joked.

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING A TINY BEANSPROUT?!" Ed demanded, glaring at me as Al held him back and started walking down to the hospital.

Those two boys were sure something, that's for sure.


	4. Chapter 4

**I am on fire with this story. It hasn't been not even a week and I have my forth chapter of this story done. **

**Shout out to 1904 for reviewing and following this story. \ouo/ **

**Disclaimer: FMA doesn't belong to me, I only own my OCs.**

**XXXX**

The next day, I was researching more alchemy, when I heard a knock on the door.

"Come in." I called, snapping my head into the direction of the door.

Hughes opened the door and walked in, "I'm going to visit Ed in the hospital. Wanna come with?"

I smiled, shutting my book, standing up, stretching, "Might me best. I need a break anyways."

"You always seem to have a book in your face every time I see you, Natalie." Hughes pointed out.

I sighed, "Well, my knowledge of alchemy is not going to grow if I don't read an alchemy book."

"Sheesh." Hughes chuckled, "You're just like those Elric Brothers."

What?

"Huh? What? I am not." I crossed my arms across my chest and pouted.

Now I was contemplating telling Hughes even more about my lost memories. He seemed like a good man, but I still don't wanna be a burden on him. I am already a burden enough as it is.

So, for the walk to the hospital, Hughes was gushing over his daughter and wife again.

Now, Hughes and I were standing at the door to where Ed was recovering and barged right in, startling Ed and Al.

"Yo boys!" Hughes greeted as I walked into the room, "How's your recovery going along, Ed?"

"I hate hospitals." Ed moaned as I snickered, covering my mouth with my hand, "I just wanna get the hell out of here fast enough to go to Liore."

Then, something hit me, something that was probably going to get me a long Ed rant.

"Serves you right for being stupid." I smirked, pointing a finger.

"HEY! YOU SHUT UP!" Ed hollered at me as I chuckled.

"You wouldn't have to be in this hospital as much if you would have gotten medical attention sooner." I stated.

"I SAID SHUT UP!" Ed growled, before being held back by his brother.

"Maybe if you didn't have a short temper, maybe you would be so hot headed all the time." I argued.

"DAMN IT, NATALIE! I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ME SHORT! AND WHO THE HELL ARE YOU CALLING HOT HEADED, YOU HYPOCRITE!" Ed snarled, struggling in his brother's grasp.

What the…? I am not hot-headed.

"Brother, be nice." Al scolded.

"She called me hot headed and said short!" Ed argued, sounding like he had every right to beat me down.

Hughes was laughing at the short argument that Ed and I had before starting to shove pictures to Ed and Al, making me laugh.

"Hey Natalie." Ed began, "What were you saying the day before yesterday? You know, something about alchemy helping you with something."

I froze. Shit, I thought Ed had forgotten about that!

"Wait a minute…" Ed stared, "You're not thinking about attempting human transmutation, are you?"

I smacked my forehead, "No-no, that's not it! Do you really think I am THAT stupid?"

"Then what is it then?" Ed questioned.

I felt a sense of awkwardness sinking in. What was I going to say to them?

"What?! I wanna be a State Alchemist." I lied.

Ok, bad call, Natalie.

"I seriously doubt that." Ed sighed, "You don't seem comfortable around military people. Are you going to tell us the truth, or not?"

Al, Ed, and Hughes were all staring at me, and it was making me really nervous. I felt like a ton of people were giving me a ton of blank looks when I would embarrass myself.

Looks like I got no choice now…

Sighing, I sat down in a chair across from Ed's hospital bed, knowing that I had no choice now but to tell them, "You all may wanna sit down. It's a long story."

So, I explained to them what had happened to me, every detail that I know.

"I've never heard of America before." Hughes stated, putting a hand on his chin, "You sure you didn't mean Amestris?"

I nodded, "Yeah, a hundred percent certain."

Ed sighed, "Well, I don't know, but I have never heard of America before. It might not even exist."

"Brother! I feel like she's telling the truth!" Al shouted, clenching his fists.

"It's still suspicious." Ed argued, narrowing his eyes at me.

"Like I said, I understand if you don't believe me." I looked down at the floor, "But…it's the truth! I know it is! That was one of the three only memories I had left about myself when I was found by the Sanders family." I clenched my fists, trying to held back tears that threaten to pour out of my eyes.

"The family in Rush Valley that you lived with over the past six years?" Hughes questioned.

I nodded, "Yep. They're the ones who suggested me to find more info about regaining my memories. But every time I pick up an alchemy book, it leads me nowhere. It's been six years. The family I once had probably thinks I'm dead and things seem to be getting less and less likely that I will ever find any answers. That is the reason why I came to Central. Why I wanted to travel in the first place."

"I think I could go take a look and find you some answers." Hughes stood up and smiled, "I can find some information for you."

I beamed, "You would? But you have done so much for…"

"Relax, Natalie, you're not a burden on me at all." Hughes scratched the back of his head, "I'll see what I can do. I'll come back here in a little while and tell you if I find anything out."

"Well…" I hesitated before looking down and nodding. Ed hates me right now and doesn't trust me. While Al seems to be ok for the most part.

"Don't worry, I'll be back soon, Natalie." Hughes said, before walking out of the room, leaving me alone with the Elric Brothers.

"Uhh…Ed." I began, deciding to change the subject since he was still kind of pissed at me, "I-I hope…I didn't make you mad in any way, or suspicious of me in any way."

Ed looked confused as he raised an eyebrow at me, "Why would I get angry at you for telling me about your amnesia? I just think it's suspicious that you know a place that probably doesn't exist. Makes me wonder if you're crazy or something."

"Hey! I am not crazy!" I protested, pouting, leaning back in the chair, "But I understand why you think that though." I sighed, swallowing the saliva in my mouth, "Oh, and thanks for the assistance the other day, Ed, Al. I don't know what would've happened if you two showed up."

"Oh, it's-it's no problem." Ed stammered, starting to curse as he took a drink of milk instead of his water, "WHAT THE HELL?!" He threw the milk bottle across the room and into the trash. Then grabbed the water and started drinking it down fast, causing him to choke.

Al was holding in his laughter, and I, looked confused, "Why did you overreact like that? It's just milk!"

"Just milk?" Ed twitched, coughing as a vein pulsed in his forehead, "I hate milk. How can you people stand drinking the stuff?"

I laughed as Ed looked really infuriated, "THERE'S NOTHING FUNNY ABOUT HATING MILK!" He shouted, falling off the bed, "OW!" he yelled. "WHAT THE HELL?"

"Brother!" "Ed!" Al and I exclaimed at the same time.

"I'm _fine_." Through his clenched teeth, Ed stood up holding his shoulder that had been stabbed with fresh pain.

Somehow, I feel that this is going to be a start of an adventure that was going to be long and dangerous, but fun at the same time.

**XXXX**

A couple of hours later, I stretched out, slowly standing up from my chair, "Man, I feel so stiff." I moaned, "If Nathan and Andrew were here, I'm sure they'd be chasing me around the hospital for complaining about being stiff."

I noticed that Ed was sleeping now. It was impressive how long the boy could sleep when given the time to.

"Hey, I wonder how much longer Hughes is going to be. He said he'd be back soon." I stretched my back from left to right, turning it.

"No, but I'm sure –" Al was cut off by a loud bang of a door.

"Oh Natalie! Sorry I'm late! Oh look at Edward- he's so adorable when he sleeps! Well, not as adorable as Elicia, because she's an angel." The pale wooded door was pushed open as Hughes strolled in.

I raised an eyebrow in confusion at what Hughes had just said and sighed. It's Hughes, so I shouldn't question it.

"Did you keep Alphonse un-lonely while Ed was sleeping?" Hughes asked me as I chuckled.

"Yes she did Mr. Hughes," Al answered for me.

"Well, that's good to hear. Anyways -ah here he is. Natalie, I was told you met one of my good buddies last night." Hughes motioned for someone as none other than the Colonel Mustang walked into the room.

"Oh, uh…Colonel Mustang. You're the guy I met last night when we stopped all the transmutation circles, right?" I pointed out as Roy nodded. I scratched the back of my head, "Sorry, my memory hasn't been right."

"Yes, I have heard about your…current predicament." Roy explained.

I raised an eyebrow at him, "Is that why you're here?"

Roy nodded, "Anyways, will you please follow us? There are things that need to be discussed."

"No thanks."

"What?"

"I said no thanks, Colonel. If you have something to discuss, you can discuss it here." I was still a little nervous around military people. You couldn't blame me.

The black-haired man raised his eyebrow in surprise, but then gave a grunt of laughter. "And I thought Fullmetal was arrogant." At his sentence, I heard a moan coming from Ed's bed. I glanced to see a slowly awakening Ed sitting up and rubbing his eyes. Apparently, the colonel also noticed this, but tried to pay no heed to the groggy blonde. "Why not?"

"Because….you kind of make me…nervous." I swallowed, saying it in a low voice.

"Don't worry he won't hurt you," Alphonse interjected, walking over to me.

"I assure you, Miss Trawick, I don't bite." Roy smirked with amusement.

**"**Hey, what the hell are you doing here Colonel Bastard?!" A moody voice echoed in the background.

I knew it was Ed and snickered.

"Oh, Fullmetal you're awake." Roy said nonchalantly, hiding his grin." I'm just here to clarify some things with Miss Trawick."

Ed look like he was about to kill someone, but I ignore him and turned back to Roy.

"So what do you need to discuss?" I asked, shrugging my shoulders, forcing myself to relax.

"Just about everything."

Well, this is going to be long questioning.

**XXXX**

"You're positive?" Roy asked me for the forth time after explaining to him everything.

"Absolutely."

"Are you sure?"

"As positive as I can be." I leaned against the white walls of Ed's hospital room.

Mustang had taken a seat on the wooden bench across from me, a grim look on his face. I felt a weird sensation bubble in my stomach; an uneasy atmosphere was starting to take form around me. Well, I had been kind of uneasy to begin with. My nervous side is always the bad part of me.

"Okay, so you lived in a the _country_ known as the United States of America, a _state _called Illinois, outside of a large, well-known city called Chicago. You found yourself here as a ten year old girl when you were supposed to be almost seventeen years old. The age you are now." Roy narrowed his eyes at me as I felt even more nervous and scared. It seems like he wasn't going to believe me, "Will you tell me what happened to you?"

I sighed, tightening my fists as they were resting on my legs, "I wish I could tell you. That means I actually remembered what happened, but that's not the case."

"You lost your memory?" Roy questioned.

"That's what I just said." I replied, putting my hands behind my head.

"Miss Trawick." Roy began, closing his eyes for a second and reopening them, "Do you expect me to believe that you came from a place that doesn't exist?"

Wait…what? My hometown doesn't exist? This doesn't make any sense.

"Ok….what?" I was dumbfounded. My hometown…didn't exist? That was insane to even think about. I wasn't ever going to recover my memories if where I was from didn't exist, nor could I? I just…didn't even know anymore, "Are you insane?"

"I should be asking that question to you." Roy retorted, before glancing down, "But then again, you said you had no memories of your past before being found. Perhaps your memory has been more messed up than you first thought."

No…that can't be it. That just couldn't be it. I remembered that was one of the things I actually remembered.

"That's not possible." I muttered, "That was one of the only memories I had left when I was found by the Sanders family in Rush Valley. That-that couldn't be…fake."

I was holding in my tears. They threatened to come out of my eyes, but I kept holding it in. I didn't want to show my sorrow to anyone. That would make me weak.

"Natalie, I'm sorry, but America, Illinois, or wherever you're from, doesn't exist." Hughes put a hand on my shoulder as I was still looking down at the ground, with wide eyes, "But you might just be confused...it'll be alright. We'll figure out where your family is soon. I promise. And get your memories back."

I wanted to scream, to cry out in anger, to beat something down senseless. But I just sat there and looked down, feeling completely depressed. This couldn't be happening. It just couldn't be happening!

Finally, tears fell down my face. I couldn't hold them back now, I just couldn't. I was feeling like something was shoved into my throat.

"What-What can I do?" I asked, sobbing quietly, "W-What can I do to try to get my memories back? I was trying to get them back by learning more about alchemy and t-traveling around."

"If that's the case then maybe she could go to Liore with us?" Al suggested, "When brother is back to normal and ready to get out of this hospital."

There was no way in hell Ed was going to let me go with them.

"No way!" Ed yelled, "There's no way I am babysitting her! I have to find the Philosopher's Stone!"

"Brother, we saw a glimpse of her fighting; she can hold her own pretty well. She won't get in the way." Al pointed out.

Roy stood up as I could feel him staring right down at me, "You have two options right now. Will you sit in that chair wallowing in self-pity, or will you stand up and seize the chance we're giving you? If you believe the possibility exists for getting your memories back, you should seek it out. Keep moving, whatever it takes. Even if the way ahead lies through a river of mud."

I finally looked up at him, seizing the sadness I had. Roy's words had hit me hard. Harder than ever. He was right; I shouldn't be sitting here moping around because of some memory loss. I needed answers, and I needed to get my memories back. I was staring at Roy with a determined stare. Something I hadn't shown over the last couple of years.

"Thank you for knocking some sense into me." I tightened my fists and stood up, "You're right; I need to take the chance and seize the opportunity to get my memories back." I turned to Ed, "If I go with you guys to Liore, I promise not to be a burden to you. And I will not be useless. I'll help you guys in any way I can. Besides, it's Equivalent Exchange, right? What we alchemists believe in."

Ed stood up, walking over to me, "Do you know anything about the Philosopher's Stone?"

I gasped at his sudden question, "I only know the abilities, but not where you can find one, I'm sorry. But that won't stop me from assisting you guys."

"How come you'd help us? You barely know us." Ed pointed out.

"Well, there's something that tells me." I began explaining, "That you boys aren't the type of boys to be the bad people. I mean, I've heard all the good things you've done, Ed. One of the boys I grew up in Rush Valley looks up to you. Always saying how he's going to be just as good as you are."

Ed snickered, giving me an arrogant smirk, "You hear that, Al? I have fans."

I smacked my forehead.

Something tells me I increased Ed's ego.

"So…I can go?" I asked, folding my hands together, smiling innocently.

"Only on one condition." Ed began, smirking, "You have to clean and cook, and also, you have to prove to me that you're not useless. You got that?"

Well, that doesn't seem to be too bad.

I nodded, "Yes."

I held out my hand to Ed as he shook it.

"Then it's a deal." Ed stated as he let go of my hand, letting it go to his side.

But little did I know, this journey was going to be one tough job.


	5. Chapter 5

**Well, here's the new chapter. Just to let you all know, I will be following a combination of Brotherhood and the manga.**

**Shout outs to the people who follow/faved my story and reviewed! You guys are awesome!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own FMA, only my OCs.**

**XXXX**

"You're welcome to stay here whenever you get back to Central."

It had been a week and a half and Ed was discharged from the hospital last night and we were leaving to Liore in a few minutes. I was standing outside the doorway with the Hughes family standing inside their home.

"Thank you, for everything." I bowed slightly.

I felt Elicia hanging onto my leg, "Sissy!" She squealed, "Come back and visit me real soon, kay?"

I giggled as Gracia smiled at me, "It seems Elicia has grown very attached to you."

I chuckled as I ruffled Elicia's hair, "Don't worry; I'll be back soon."

I checked the time, before my eyes grew huge. I have to be at the train in five minutes.

"Oh, I would stay longer, but I've lost track of time." I explained, before running down towards the concrete stairs, looking back at the Hughes family and waving goodbye before heading off to the station.

**XXXX**

I spotted Ed and Al standing by the train.

I waved to them and shouted, "Hey!"

"Took you long enough." Ed grumbled, straightening out his body before I ran over to them, panting.

"Yeah, sorry." I apologized as we walked into the train.

I was thanking God that I got here just in time.

"So, what are you guys going to do in Liore?" I asked.

Both Ed and Al paused. "Remember how I said we have to accomplish some things?" Al began nervously.

"It's classified." Ed muttered shortly. I felt rather sad that they didn't trust me quite yet, but all in good time. Good things come to those who wait.

**XXXX**

The train ride to Liore had been okay. I slept a lot on the way there.

We got there and went to a cafe. Religious messages were being broadcasted over a radio.

"…_To you, Children of God, who live upon this great earth, pray and believe, and you shall be saved…"_

It was as if all sounds in the town had ceased throughout the duration of the broadcast. From all four corners of the desert oasis, the sermon ebbed and flowed, overlaying all snippets of quiet conversation that rarely cropped up.

"_The Sun God Leto shines light upon you to show you the way…"_

The owner of a small stand stared doubtfully at us, arms crossed against his thin chest. "What are you, street performers?"

Ed nearly choked on his drink, glaring up at the shop owner, anger clear on his overly expressive face. "Where the hell would you get_ that_ idea?"

I agreed with Ed on this one. Just because we're not from around here, doesn't mean were street performers.

"Why?" the owner asked. "Am I wrong?"

"You know, that's a very rude assumption." I muttered, in a low voice, slamming my hand on the stand, and rising from my seat.

Ed sighed, "Let's just go."

When I was about four feet away from the café, I heard a smash and turned my head to notice that the radio was now smashed.

"Hey, mister!" The owner shouted at Al, narrowing his eyes, "Be more careful."

"Sorry about that, pops," Ed said with a smug smile on his face, "We'll fix it up good as new."

"How can you 'fix' it?" the shop owner cried. "It's in a million pieces!"

"We can fix it." I stated, lowering my voice a bit.

Al had already sketched a transmutation circle around the totaled radio. "Here I go," he said with a sigh, crossing his hands above the circle. There was a particularly flashy burst of alchemy, a puff of steam, and the radio was fixed, continuing to play the sermon, as if it hadn't moved.

"How was that?" Ed smirked cockily, pointing at the radio.

"You've been touched by the sun god with miracles, just like Father Cornello." The shopkeeper gasped.

I smacked my forehead. These guys obviously haven't gotten the memo, "Actually, that was alchemy."

"Oh? So you three are alchemists, huh?" One of the bystanders wondered.

"Then have you heard of the Elric brothers?" Ed smirked, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Wait a second," the same person who commented on our alchemy said, "I have! The Fullmetal Alchemist, Edward Elric!"

Every one of the bystanders walked over to Al.

"Ah, I get it! They call you 'Fullmetal' because you wear all that armor!"

I almost covered my mouth to hide my laughter that was threatening to come out as Ed look like he was about to murder someone.

"I-it's not me! It's him," Al pointed over to Ed and the bystanders turned to Ed's and my direction.

"That little guy over there is the Fullmetal Alchemist?" One man shouted in shock.

"WHO'S LITTLE? COME OVER HERE AND SAY THAT TO MY FACE!" Ed exploded, lunging for the crowd with the intent to kill.

"So," Ed growled out, "Who's on the broadcast?"

"T-that's the H-High Priest, Father Cornello," The café owner stumbled out, recoiling in terror from the mere sight of Ed's rage.

"H-he came here a few years ago and taught us about the path of God." A bystander explained.

"He will make his followers immortal and raise the dead!" Another bystander added.

"And proof of it are all the miracles he performs!"

"Isn't that impossible?" I questioned, narrowing my eyes.

"No, he's been blessed by the sun god Leto, my dear." One of the bystanders laughed.

Now it was my turn to twitch and get mad over something small, "Don't call me dear, I have a name. It's Natalie, you got that?"

"Well, Father Cornello is having a miracle gathering by the Church of Leto now," a young woman said. "You can go and see for yourselves!"

The courtyard outside the church was filled with people, the air alive with rose petals.

A particularly fat, bald man was standing on the front steps leading to the doors of the church, smiling coyly, a hand raised in greeting. Out of the air, he plucked a dried rose petal. There was the usual hair-raising effect of alchemy performed too close, accompanied by an unusual flash of red light. When he spread his hands, replaced was an elaborate jeweled carving of flowers.

"So this is what they were talking about," Ed mused, all animosity between us forgotten.

"It's pretty obvious that it's alchemy," Al stated.

"But he's completely ignoring the Law of Equivalent Exchange," Ed pointed out.

"Not to mention the Law of Natural Providence." I piped up.

"He changed the flower into an inorganic substance, too," Al noted, trailing off. "Brother…do you think?"

"Wait a minute…" I suddenly realized what Al was getting at, "You mean the…?"

All three pairs of our eyes focused onto the pudgy hand pressed against vestments. On his ring finger was a gold band, tiny red stone encased within.

"That's it!" Ed realized.

If we thought the outside of the church was gaudy, the inside was ten times worse. Mahogany pews lined each side, leaving a single wide aisle straight down the middle. The statue of a _really_ tall man with a crown and beard was within the sacristy. In front of it was a mahogany alter, covered in a clean linen cloth, four lit candles of ascending height stood on top. In front of the alter, a young woman knelt, head bowed in prayer. Even from where we stood, at the back of the church, we could hear her.

"God…please listen to my wish…" She whispered, "Please bring back-"

"So this is Leto," Ed interrupted, stepping forward with an easy grin on his face. The girl spun to face us, pink bangs waving in front of her face.

"Hello," She greeted warmly standing to face us, "Are you interested in Letoism?"

I gotta admit, I was interested in religion, but not this kind of religion. It seemed…a little farfetched to me, this religion. The whole reason why I was interested somewhat in religion was the whole reason of how exactly the world came to be.

"No, not really the religious type." Ed answered.

"That's not good," she said with a small smile, "to know God…is living in gratitude and hope. It's glorious." A passionate fire sprung forth within her eyes. "I'm sure if you believe, Leto will make you grow taller!"

"What did you say?" Ed snapped, tightening his fists.

"I'm sure she didn't mean it in a bad way," Al soothed.

"'Raise the dead'," Ed quoted seriously, glaring up at her, "You really believe in something so ridiculous?"

"Yes," She replied, without hesitation. "With all my heart."

That was just impossible. Raising the dead? What were these people on?

Ed pulled out a small notebook and started reading, "Water: 35 liters. Carbon: 20 kilograms. Ammonia: 4 liters. Lime: 1.5 kilograms. Phosphorus: 800 grams. Salt: 250 grams. Saltpeter: 100 grams. Sulfur: 80 grams. Fluorine: 7.5 grams. Iron: 5 grams. Silicon: 3 grams. And 15 other elements in trace quantities. This is the basic chemical makeup of the average adult human body. We all know this, through advances in science. And here, you're saying that prayer can solve something science hasn't?" He paused, closing a small notebook. "You can buy all that stuff with the pocket money of a little kid, so I guess you could say human beings are pretty cheap to make!"

"People are not things," the girl said angrily, "That's…that's blasphemy! You're insulting the creator! You'll suffer punishment for that."

"It's ironic that we," Ed said, staring up at the statue of Leto, "who don't even believe in God, are, in a sense, the closest thing to him."

"Are you saying that you're God's equal?" the girl asked angrily. "How _arrogant_!"

Ok, I had to agree with her on that. That was arrogant; thinking you can match God was sheer arrogance.

"There was once a boy who made wings of wax. He was at first elated by the fact that he could fly over the ocean like a bird. But he grew _arrogant_ and flew too close to the sun. The wax wings melted, and he came crashing into the sea." With that, Ed leapt out of his sitting position and tapped on my shoulder, giving me a look that clearly said say-something-that-could-help-us-find-this-Cornell o-guy.

I sighed, "Miss, do you think that your God could save an arrogant alchemist such as my friend?"

"Oh, of course!" the girl cried happily, clasping her hands joyously. "He always accepts reformers!"

**XXXX**

The girl, who had already introduced herself as Rose once we 'gain' interest in Letoism, led us through the church. Simple hewn hallways were all that greeted us, all decoration lost in that first main room. "The High Priest is a very busy man," she chirped, pushing open a set of doors engraved with a stylus of the sun, "so he usually cannot find time for matters such as this…"

"You certainly are lucky." The man who introduced himself as Brother Cray stated, hand fingering something in his sleeve, which I could only see something silver.

Something wasn't right.

"Sorry for the trouble," Ed said, grinning, "We'll make it quick."

"Yes," Cray murmured, pulling something from his vestments. "Let's end this quickly."

Oh crap!

The hair rose on the back of my neck, and I spun around, only to be stopped by the sight of an axe at my neck. I froze, watching Ed, who was glaring down the barrel of a revolver.

"Cray!" Rose cried in shock, placing her hands to her mouth. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Rose," Cray said, "These people are heathens who are out to discredit His Holiness. They are evil."

My eyes widened. Something was, in fact, not right.

"Tell me something." I began, tightening my fists, "Did your God say that? Or did your phony leader say that?"

The guy holding the axe intended on killing me, but thankfully, I ducked down fast enough to dodge before kicking the guy in the stomach, knocking him away from me.

Ed twisted the other man's arm behind his back. Ahead of us, Al clenched his fist, ramming it into Cray's face. A dazed look overcame his face, the revolver flying from his hand to land at Rose's feet.

The man I had knocked into the ground began to scramble away, obviously hell bent on alerting whoever the hell 'His Holiness' was. Ed picked up the axe, weighing it momentarily in his hand, before sending it flying, butt-first, at the poor man. It struck him behind the knees, back of the head, and his spine, leaving him stunned. "Strike!"

The sound of approaching footsteps drew our attention to a still shrouded area of the room. As he stepped into view, I couldn't help but let the grimace on my face deepen into an almost identical scowl to Ed's. Not another scary resemblance…

"Welcome to our holy order, Fullmetal." The priest greeted with a smile.

"Father Cornello!" Rose beamed.

"Seems a few of us were a bit hasty," Cornello said, observing the carnage with a flippant gaze. "I apologize for their rudeness."

I glared up at him, crossing my arms across my chest, "That's rich coming from the guy who probably ordered them to do it!"

"My dear child, I have no idea what you're talking about." Cornello grinned.

A vein pulsed in my forehead, "Don't call me that! I have a name, and it's not 'dear'."

"Are you here to learn the ways of God?" Cornello asked, ignoring my comment.

"Yeah, sort of." I replied, "We just want some answers. Like how you're using second rate alchemy to gain power."

"You're using the Philosopher's Stone, aren't you?" Edward accused.

"I expected no less of state alchemists." Cornello snarled.

"Uhh…there's only one state alchemist here." I corrected, but the phony priest ignored me.

"Guess I'll just have to get my hands on your body and find out for myself," Ed stated, a crazed smile on his face.

"You seem to be an incorrigible heathen," Cornello said, face serious. "Rose."

Startled at being addressed, I spun to face the once silent girl. "Y-yes?" she asked timidly.

"Pick up the revolver at your feet."

Rose stared down at the long-forgotten weapon at her feet. Already I could tell that Cornello had something nasty in mind. "Yes, sir…" she whispered, lifting the revolver into her hand.

"Now shoot the Fullmetal Alchemist."

I froze, snapping my head over to Ed's direction.

Rose looked up at Cornello, "I…I can't do that…"

"My words are the words of God," He said, unable to keep the haughty tone from his voice. "This is the will of God. Shoot them Rose."

"Listen Rose!" I yelled, turning my head back over to her, "This guy is just using some made up religion and phony miracles to gain power." I looked up back at Cornello, "You can say that's God's will, but tell me something, Cornello." I tightened my fists and gave him a look of determination, "Does your God really believe murder is a way of a God?"

I didn't know much about religion, but I am pretty sure that God would not justify murder.

Rose raised the gun, cradling it against her chest. It must've been tearing her apart… "What's wrong?" Cornello sneered. "Have you forgotten who saved you from that well of despair after your love died?"

"It was you, Father Cornello," she whispered.

"That's right! It was _I_ who rescued you. And what did I promise you?"

"That you would bring him back!" Rose cried. She took aim at Al, who immediately waved his hands.

"I'm not the Fullmetal Alchemist!" He squeaked out.

"DAMN IT, I'M THE FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST!" Ed snarled, waving his arms and legs in the air and blow smoke from his nose, "IT'S NOT HIM, IT'S ME!"

"Rose, just put the gun down." I pleaded with her.

Rose pointed the gun at Ed, "I'm sorry," she whispered, "But I have to do this."

"You don't have to do it!" I argued, "Who has the choice to drop the gun and walk away? You do! Besides, he's a phony. You can't ever bring someone back to life."

"You're wrong, Natalie! I've seen his miracles! The impossible is possible with a man like Father Cornello." Rose snapped.

"Then shoot." Ed snapped.

Rose began shaking. Silence went through the room for a second. Until…

I heard the gun going off, blowing off Al's head.

"AL!" I screamed as his whole body fell back.

The weapon dropped lifelessly from Rose's hand, and she screamed.

I covered my mouth with my hand in shock. Al…

"Good work Rose," Cornello sneered, "God is pleased. Now, shoot the others."

"Man, you make your followers do some horrible things," Al said, pulling himself upright.

I gasped, "W-What the hell…?" I looked from Al's head and back to Al, "B-But you just…"

This was way out of the ordinary. Al didn't have a freaking body!

"Don't worry, Natalie, he's studier than most." Ed clarified.

"See?" Al offered, bending down to Rose's and my levels, so we could clearly see the person (or lack thereof) inside the armor.

"But that's impossible." I breathed.

What did I get myself into?

"It's empty!" Cornello gasped. "This itself is evidence to their evil! They must be eliminated!"

He disappeared. Moments later, a painful sound, reminding me all too much of nails on chalkboard, gritted out. I tensed, spotting glowing red eyes.

The monstrosity that crept out of the shadows made me sick. Physically sick. It had the head of a lion, faint traces of transmutation still visible on its yellow flesh. It's body was that of a lizard and lion, with feet that reminded me strangely of a chicken.

"Is this your first time seeing a chimera?" I heard Cornello sneer from above.

"So you made this thing from the Philosopher's Stone, right?" Ed asked nonchalantly, hands in his pockets. "Guess we should arm ourselves. Right, Natalie?"

I pulled out a piece of white chalk, drawing a transmutation circle before putting my hands on it, slowly making a sword appear.

I noticed that Ed had a spear in his hands from his transmutation.

"Without a transmutation circle?" Cornello shouted, clearly surprised.

It swiped its paw and broke Ed's spear, clawing his leg.

"How do claws that can cut through steel feel? Ahahahaha!" Cornello laughed.

"Sorry, these are made a bit special." Ed grinned as the chimera's claws broke. He lifted his automail leg for us to see.

"If claws won't work, bite him!" Cornello commanded.

Suddenly, an idea formed into my head. Come on, kitty! Do what I think you're going to do.

The chimera lunged at Ed as the thing tried to bite down on Ed's arm, but he got the automail arm one instead. I took my chance to stab the chimera with my sword right below its neck.

The blood dripping freaked me out a little. I had to do it for our survival though. A little blood isn't too bad, right?

Oh God; whom am I kidding?

"You left an opening." I stated simply.

Ed raised an eyebrow at me and sighed, deciding now wasn't the time to be a smartass most likely.

"What's wrong, cat? Get a real good taste." Ed kicked the beast in the jaw, sending it flying.

Cornello gaped down at us, well, Ed mostly, "A boy with a metal arm and leg, and an empty suit of armor." Cornello's shocked face turned into an evil grin, "You've done it, haven't you?"

Wait a minute, that means Ed and Al committed the ultimate taboo. They attempted human transmutation. But…why would they do something like that?

"Get down here, you third-rate hack!" Ed challenged, holding his automail arm up at the ready. "We'll show you that there's no comparison between us!"

"Rose," Cornello began, addressing her since he ordered her to kill us, "These heathens have committed the greatest taboo an alchemist can commit. Human transmutation."

How could Ed and Al do that to themselves? Did they even realize how stupid that was? Well, they probably did, after they freaking attempted it!

"They tried to revive the dead," The phony priest continued, grinning all too evilly and sadistically.

"No way…" Rose whispered, almost inaudibly.

"This is the body of a sinner who's encroached on God's territory," Ed growled. "Are you prepared to deal with this?"

I felt pity for the both of them. Something tragic must have happened to them to make them try to attempt it. That has to be it!

I felt someone put a hand on my shoulder. I turned my head to Al, who seemed like he was trying to comfort me because he probably noticed how shocked I was.

"We were positive we could create life, even if it was forbidden. We lost someone dear to us, and all we wanted to see was her smile again. The transmutation went horribly wrong." He whispered to me. "Brother lost his leg, and I lost my entire body. I fell unconscious…When I opened my eyes, I saw Brother in a sea of blood. He was missing his arm and leg, and I was in this body. Even while he was suffering, he tried to save me."

My heart broke and ached for these two. They'd been through a lot and they only did human transmutation to bring back someone they cared about.

These boys were strong. They didn't seem so upset about it anymore.

"I'm…" I swallowed and hesitated, "I'm so, so sorry, Al."

"Hahaha.. And then Edward Elric became a dog of the military!" Cornello laughed.

My blood was boiling with anger, "Shut your damn mouth! Stop laughing at such a thing! They've been through so much and now you're laughing at their sadness." I clenched my fist and gritted my teeth, "How dare you! At least they can handle themselves without having to rely on a stone! What can you do without the stone, you bastard?!"

Cornello shot a glare at me, but I wasn't affected at all as he looked back at the Elric brothers, "You wanted your transmutation to succeed by using the stone, right?"

"As if! We just want our original bodies back!" Ed snapped.

"Please, Father," Al said, voice soft, but commanding, "Give us the Stone before you get hurt."

"How ridiculous!" Cornello scoffed. "Heathen's who have dared step into God's territory!" His hand with the Philosopher's Stone on it touched the cane in his other hand. "I'll send you to God permanently!" Red light flared again, and the cane morphed into a military-issue chain gun.

He started firing it at us.

"Nope, god hates us!" Ed exclaimed as the smoke cleared a minute later, a rock wall in front of us, "Even if you deliver us, he'll just send us right back!"

While Cornello was distracted by the sudden appearance of the wall, Al scooped up Rose, running towards the door to the back of us. He turned fire on the two.

"I think it's wise for us to get out of here!" I shouted.

Ed grabbed my wrist as we both started running.

"Those doors only open when I command them too!" Cornello laughed, acting like he'd had won.

"Oh really? If there ain't an exit, I'll make one!" Ed let go of my wrist and clasped his hands together slamming his hands on the wall to make a door.

Ok, I am kind of jealous that Ed can do transmutation without a circle.

We burst out of the room, hearing Cornello shout at men behind us.

"Hey." Ed began, "Think you can keep up with us?"

I nodded, "Yeah, I can."

At that moment, we were approaching a group of people.

"Just surrender before anyone gets hurt, kid." The men grinned.

I smirked, still holding the sword from the fight, "We're not weaponless!"

"Yeah." Ed agreed, transmuting his automail arm into a blade, grinning evilly as Ed and I rammed right through them. We continued to run down the hall until we stumble upon, what I had assumed to be the place where Cornello did all of his broadcasting at. Due to seeing all the microphones and such.

"A broadcasting room…" I observed, seeing the mic at the far end of the room.

I noticed the look in Ed's eyes and turned to him, "You've got a plan, don't you?"

Ed's grin widened, "I sure do, Nat."

I blinked in surprise at the nickname.

"It's ok if I call you that, right?" Ed wondered, crossing his arms across his chest.

I stopped the flashbacks from a couple of years back from coming out before smiling, "Yeah, my adoptive brothers called me that back home."

"Al, can you steal the church bell and transmute it into a mic?" Ed questioned.

Al nodded slowly.

"What do you want me to do?" I asked, straightening my back.

"Come with me, we're going to try to get that phony priest to tell us what is actual plan is." Ed replied, motioning me to follow him.

"Ok." I walked over to him to follow him.

**XXXX**

"I wonder how long it's going to take for that priest to find us." I wondered, lying down on my back on the floor of an office room while Ed was sitting on the desk.

Ed glanced up at me from his position on the desk, and he shrugged. "Dunno," he said. "Hopefully long enough for Al to get that megaphone working."

"Yeah…" I sighed, yawning, "I hope you guys get what you need."

"I hope so." Ed replied sadly, "That way, Al and I can get our original bodies back."

"About that." I began, twirling my thumbs, crossing my legs, "I'm not mad at you guys for not telling me about that. I mean, everyone has secrets."

"You're right about that." Ed sighed, standing up from the desk, "I guess you're not half bad, Nat."

I sat up and smiled, "You're not so bad yourself, Elric."

We were both stubborn idiots at points and we maybe at each other's throats, but at least Ed and I still manage to become friends.

I heard a soft cough from behind us, and we both turned, savagely locking our gaze onto Cornello. He was smirking at us. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

What the hell was this guy smoking?

"YOU SICK PERVERT!" Ed hollered, "HOW THE HELL COULD YOU SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT? I HAVEN'T EVEN KNOWN HER FOR THREE WEEKS YET!"

"No matter, you brats." The half-baked priest snarled at us, "You'd better be prepared!"

"Well, we feel sorry for the people for believing in you!" Ed admitted.

I nodded in agreement, "Yeah, they don't realize that who they following is just a third rate wannabe who wants power."

"We just wanna know the secret behind the Stone." Ed smirked. "Or should we call for the army to mobilize? To inspect the Stone, I mean."

Cornello hesitated, probably trying to think about what he should actually do before walking over to the door, shutting it.

"So, why do you need the Philosopher's Stone?" I asked, sitting indian style

"My order will produce followers who will joyfully give up their lives for me!" Cornello boasted, a grin on his face. "They will be an undefeatable army who does not even fear death! Just watch, in a few years, I will be stripping this country away by using the Philosopher's Stone, and my stupid followers! But I guess I can share some of the leftovers with you two." He began laughing.

Ed and I looked at each other for half a second and then started laughing.

"What's so funny?" Cornello asked us, taking a threatening step forward.

"Thisis why I called you a third-rate hack," Ed said with a smile. To clarify, he held up a small switchbox, which was currently flipped into the 'ON' position. Cornello stared blankly at the switchbox, then at the wires leading from it, which he followed to the microphone at his feet.

"YOU BRATS!" Cornello shouted, "HOW LONG HAS THAT BEEN ON?!"

"From the beginning." I replied, smirking.

"What have you done?" He reached up to transmute his cane once more, but I was already on my feet.

"Too slow!" I shouted, using my sword from earlier to slice through the chain gun.

"I'll just transmute again and again!" he shouted, reaching up to transmute the remaining half of his weapon. I leapt back, vaulting backward off my hands to land in a crouch by Ed. The red light surrounding the still-in progress transmutation was fluxuating angrily. The light was blinding.

Well, it seems the Philosopher's Stone isn't as sturdy as they say. Unless…

That stone is a fake!

Unlike Ed, who had seen only his now machinelike arm, I caught him in the midst of another transmutation. This time, he was transmuting himself_. _He grew out of proportion, body hulking like some sort of monster. His eyes glowed dark red, like the Philosopher's Stone.

My eyes widened seeing the giant sight of what the Philosopher's Stone could do to someone. It was just twisted.

Ed and I both ran, eventually threading our way into the main church hall, the same alter and statue of Leto as before. Cornello swung at Ed, but I dashed forward, sliding like I did when you played baseball, and sweeping Ed's feet right from underneath him. Ed slid into a pew, and I barely missed Cornello's fist as I caught the end of a pew, panting, pulling myself up.

That was way too close for comfort. Cornello could've killed me with that move.

I could see his other fist lash out, leaving Ed only enough time to block the blow with his automail. "My words are God's words," He snarled, using his other fist towards me. This time, I had barely any time to react as I stabbed his palm with my sword, only to slam into the wall by taking the impact of his attack.

"My fist is the fist of God!" Cornello growled, grunting in pain due to his stabbed palm. I nearly gagged at the sight of the blood. Thank God it wasn't much though.

"'God's fist'?" Ed sneered, vaulting backwards and out of harm's way. I exhaled, and immediately, Cornello ground his fist in further. I was still recovering from his last move Cornello did. My head was aching like crazy. I was definitely going to have a splitting headache later. Not to mention my back was freaking killing me.

I brought myself back to my feet as I saw Cornello revert back to the way he was before the stone made him a giant.

Ed grabbed Cornello by the shirt as I saw the Philosopher's stone in his ring drop and went into dust.

It WAS a fake! Philosopher's Stones, from what I read, usually are perfect and cannot break.

Cornello started begging for his life as Ed dropped him and put his head down.

"You mean, we came all the way here, risked our lives for nothing, and it's a fake?" Ed sweat dropped.

"So, you two ain't going to kill me?" Cornello asked.

Ed growled, clasping a fist, "I don't care what you do, just get the hell out of here!"

Cornello panicked as he ran off, obviously scared of Ed's rage.

"Damn it! It was a fake! And I was so close to finding it to!" Ed sighed, looking down, sweat dropping once again.

I put a hand on his shoulder, "It's ok, I am sure you'll get another lead on the stone."

"Hey!"

Ed and I looked up to see Al running over to us.

"Did you guys find anything?" He asked.

"…It was another fake," Ed admitted, sounding depressed. "I see…"

Ed softly pounded his flesh hand against Al's chest plate. "And to think I actually thought we'd get your body back this time…"

"Give me the Philosopher's Stone!"

Rose's desperate shout drew all of our attention to her. She was standing with her back to the church, the revolver from our previous fight held shakily in her hands.

"Rose, don't." I told her, "What is a gun going to do to help you? Besides, the stone was a fake."

"That's a lie!" Rose accused. "You're just planning on keeping it for yourselves, just so you can fix your bodies, and bring back your friends' _mother_!"

"You shut up!" Ed snapped, "People don't come back from the dead, Rose. Not ever!"

Rose collapsed to her knees. "But…" she whispered. "He said that he'd be able to bring him back…He said that if I prayed…it would come true." She looked up at us, tears falling from her face. "What am I supposed to do now?"

"You'll have to think about that on your own." Ed and I started to walk past her, "Get up and take a step. Walk forward. At least you have two legs to carry you."

Those are definitely words to live by.


	6. Chapter 6

**Well, I apologize for the wait. I've been having a lot of family issues to deal with for the past month. Also, I started school again yesterday. So updates will probably depend on my schedule. I can't promise another update this week because I already got an English essay to work on that's due next week. So, I guess I'll update whenever.**

**But, at least my chapters are long. XD**

**Disclaimer: FMA doesn't belong to me, only my OCs.**

**XXXX**

I stared out the window of the train as it chugged on the next destination, the blurry landscape flashing by. Ed, Al, and I were going to the Youswell Coal Mines, 'The Town on the Eastern Border', so we could take the next train to East City. But by the time we get there, it would seem we would have to find a place to stay in for the night.

I tore my gaze from the window and looked around the empty train.

"...No one's on board." I remarked to Ed and Al

"I heard the rumors, but I didn't think it was _this_ bad..." Ed said, sitting right next to me, folding up a map. "Guess this isn't exactly tourist country."

Well, that was the understatement of the year.

"It feels like the whole train was reserved for us, don't you think?" said Al, sitting right across from me, occupying the whole seat because of his big, bulky body.

"But it's so empty..." I sighed, folding my arms across my chest. "I feel like someone is going to jump out anytime soon and attack us or something..."

"Aw, is wittle Natalie scwared~?" Ed teased me in a baby voice, making me flush.

"I am NOT scared!" I snapped, looking back at the window, rolling my eyes at the blond alchemist.

I noticed Al was staring out the window, "What's wrong, Al?" I asked him.

"I see it! The Youswell Coal Mines!" Al responded.

**XXXX**

"So this is where we get coal..." I commented as I looked around. I was expecting a town full of people, but the place was deserted. Well, there were a few people around, but they were all either sitting around doing nothing or moving extremely slow, making the place seem dead.

"'The Wilde Frontier,' eh? I always thought a place like this would be a little more lively." Ed mumbled next to me, standing to the left of me.

"Everyone seems a little tired..." Al remarked.

Suddenly, I heard a loud bonk.

"Oops! Sorry 'bout that." a voice apologized.

I turned to see Ed on the cold, hard, ground, clutching his head in pain. A young boy stood next him, holding a square wooden pole over his shoulder.

"You alright, Ed?" I asked, noticing Ed on the ground, rubbing his head in pain.

"Yeah." he groaned, rubbing his head more. Ed looked up at the boy, glaring up at him. "That hurt, you little-"

"Hey! You're from out of town, right?" the boy interrupted. "On a trip?" he asked, leaning closer to Ed.

"Uh..."

"Where you from?" The boy bombarded Ed with questions while Al and I stood back away from the two, watching.

"Well..."

"Need a meal?"

"Hold on..."

"A place to stay?"

"Who are you?" Ed asked bluntly. But the boy just ignored Ed's question as he stood up.

"Dad! We got customers!" the boy yelled to a man with mining cap and a pole over his shoulder.

"LISTEN WHEN PEOPLE TALK TO YOU!" Ed snapped at him. The boy just completely ignored him. I laughed.

"Huh? What's that, Khayal?" the man asked.

"Customers!" The boy, Khayal, hollered, waving his hand. "A piggy bank!"

"What do you mean 'piggy bank'?!" Ed demanded, annoyed about the little name that the townspeople gave him. I giggled.

"You don't say!" The older man said, taking off his hat, showing his grinning face.

**XXXX**

"Sorry about the dust." Halling, the innkeeper said to us, "The mines don't pay very much. So we run this inn to get by."

"What're you talkin' 'bout, chief!?" a man with a burly beard called out to him. "_Your _problem is, you're a soft touch! Always giving what you make to the poor!" he laughed.

"That's why your old lady's always crying!" Another man added, laughing along with the burly bearded man.

"Keep it down, you!" Halling shouted in amusement. "If you got a problem with how I spend my money, then hurry up and pay me what you owe for the booze!" More laughter erupted from the group of men.

I smiled at the group of people. They seemed so…strong for people who were struggling with finical problems and such.

"So there's three of you... One night's stay and three meals each?" Halling's wife asked.

"How much?" Ed asked.

"What... Afraid you can't afford it?" Halling said with a smirk.

"Don't worry, I brought enough." Ed told him confidently.

"Three-hundred thousand." Hallings said, holding up three fingers. Ed fell out of his chair from shock and my jaw nearly hit the floor.

"Three-hundred thousand?!" Ed exclaimed in shock. "What a rip off!"

"You must not get many customers here if you're making us pay for that much." I pointed out.

"That's right, miss. We don't get much pay here either." Hallings explained.

"You gotta be kidding me! We'll go somewhere else!" Edward stood up to leave but the innkeeper clutched his head, stopping him.

"There's no escape, piggy bank!" Hallings hissed.

I couldn't help but laugh at the nickname.

"Forget about it. The prices are the same everywhere else." Khayal added.

"We really don't have enough..." he muttered. "I guess the only thing we can do is use alchemy to turn pebbles into gold!"

I smacked him upside the head, "Are you insane? That's against the laws, you idiot!"

"If we don't get caught... we won't get caught." Edward grinned at his plan.

"Brother, you're evil!" Alphonse whispered.

"DAD! THIS GUY'S AN ALCHEMIST!" I heard Khayal shout to his father. He must've heard our whole short conversation.

**XXXX**

Ed clapped his hands and placed them on the table where a broken pickaxe lay. People gathered around to watch, Khayal being right up at the front. Sparks flew, blue light emitting from underneath Ed's hands as his transmutation activated. The wind created from Ed's work whipped around me, causing my clothes to flap and the wind going through my hair which was pulled back into a ponytail as usual. I pulled Khayal back a little away from the table to make sure he doesn't get hurt. When the transmutation ended, there lay the pickaxe, good as new. The crowd oohed and aahed, amazed by the work done by the young prodigy. Ed struck a victory pose on the table, a fan open in his hand.

"It looks brand new!" a miner commented, holding the pickaxe in the air while examining it.

"Are there any other things you want fixed?" Ed asked, looking around the crowd.

"Can you fix this one?" The hostess, or what I thought it was since Hallings called her his wife earlier, walked up to the table, a broken vase in her hands. "I treasure it, but I accidentally broke it." she explained.

"What, you haven't thrown it away yet?" said Hallings.

"You rarely buy things like this for me, so..." Replied the hostess as she set the broken vase on the table.

I smiled and rose from my seat, "I can do that, miss."

I pulled out a piece of chalk, drawing a transmutation circle, and putting the vase on the transmutation before setting my hands on the transmutation , creating a flash of blue light and some sparks. When it faded, it revealed the vase back to its original shape, intact.

"I'm so glad!" the hostess cried joyfully, picking up the vase and hugging it.

"That's great, Hostess!" a man called out to the lady.

"This is great! Our first customers in ages, and they're _alchemists_!" Hallings laughed as he came up to me with a plate of food that Ed ordered. "I used to dabble a little bit myself," he explained. "But I didn't really have the talent, so I gave up studying." He grinned at the three of us happily. "I'll give you a special alchemist's discount. Plus the amount I owe you for fixing the vase and pickaxe."

"Sounds good!" Ed said happily.

"Thank you very much!" I piped in, smiling pleasantly at the man.

"All together, that's a fifty percent discount! One hundred-fifty thousand!"

"That's still a lot!" Ed protested as the plate of food was placed in front of him. Hallings just laughed at his outrage.

"By the way, I didn't catch your name." Hallings mused, placing a hand on his chin. Ed picked up his silver wares, ready to dig into his food.

"Oh yeah...?" Ed queried. "Edward Elric." he told the man.

Just as he was about to start eating, Hallings swiped the plate away from him, making him stab the table with the fork and knife. The three of us looked up at Hallings and gave him a quizzical look, but the man was still smiling at us like everything was perfectly fine.

I could tell though that something WASN'T right. The reaction that he had a split second ago clearly stated that.

"So you're Elric the alchemist..." Hallings said, the friendly smile still on his face. "The State Alchemist?"

I raised an eyebrow in confusion. What was wrong with that?

I had a feeling I was about to find out why that was wrong.

"... Well, sort of..." Ed replied, reaching for his cup of coffee. But Hallings took that away as well, swiping it away from him before he could even grab it. "Hey, what's the big deal?!" Ed demanded. But the inside of the pub had suddenly become quiet. All the miners were looking at the three of us, their eyes narrowed and scowls on their faces. Saying that they didn't look happy would be an understatement.

"GET LOST!" They yelled as they kicked the three of us out of the inn. Literally. I landed on my butt, skidding on the ground a bit. Ouch. That was rude. What were these peoples' problem?

"Hey! We're paying customers!" Ed argued, on his hands and knees.

"_Bleah!_ We don't have food or lodgings for dogs of the military!" Hallings spat at him.

"Um, we're civilians! We're not 'state' anything!" Al and I called out innocently, hands raised in the air.

"Oh, that's fine then! Come on in!" Hallings said back to his cheerfulness, beckoning you to come in.

I swear, this guy has a split personality.

"YOU TRAITORS!" Ed screamed at us as Al and I went inside. I turned around and gave the blonde boy an apologetic smile and a laugh before closing the door on him. The last thing I saw from Edward crying tears as he reached out his hand for me.

I couldn't help but laugh more at Ed's last facial expression. Poor Ed, but maybe Al and I can get some answers about why this area hates the military. I know there were a lot of people who hated the military all over the country, but these people had to have a good reason why.

"Man, just when I thought we had a paying guest..." a miner muttered bitterly as Al, me, and all the other miners went back to their seats.

"What a letdown..." I took my seat next to Al at a table, Khayal seated right next to me.

"State Alchemists aren't too popular here, are they?" Al questioned.

"Of course. Everyone around here hates soldiers." Khayal informed. "This town's under the authority of Lieutenant Yoki, but all he cares about is making money."

"What a greedy bastard." I muttered low enough so Khayal couldn't hear my swearing. It wasn't polite for me to swear around a little kid.

"I hear he spends it all on bribes to his superiors back in Central City." a man with a cigarette in his mouth explained.

"He even bought his way to being a Lieutenant." a man with a buzz cut added.

"Used to be he just owned the coal mines, but he got greedy about movin' on up." an elderly looking man said, lighting up his pipe.

"Huh? So this place is..." Al began saying.

"Yup, this is Yoki's private property." The elderly man finished for him.

"That rat owns everything in this town! We don't get paid enough to get by!" a different man shouted his outrage. "Even if we complain to someone higher up on the chain, Yoki bribes them all, so _they_ won't help!"

"See? It sucks, huh?" Khayal huffed as he jerked his thumb at what the man said.

"And then there's the State Alchemists." said Hallings as he set two trays of food down in front of Al and I. The trays consisted of a mug of coffee and one sandwich, which I eagerly grabbed for. Hey! I hadn't eaten anything all day! "Alchemists work for the people.'" Hallings continued as I hungrily took a bite out of my sandwich and chewed, enjoying the flavor. Food's not that bad! "That's the slogan of the alchemists... The source of their pride. I know they get a lot in exchange... But I can't forgive people who sell their souls to the military state."

"Because of how the military runs?" I asked as Hallings nodded.

"Yes, they don't put the people first. And that's what they should do." Hallings answered.

I could understand why he says that but not all the military people are like that.

"Hey Natalie." Al began whispering into my ear, "I'm going to take the food to brother. Wanna come?"

I sighed and got up, bowing slightly to Hallings, "Thank you for your hospitality. Al and I will be right back."

**XXXX**

Al and I walked outside to see that Ed was lying on the ground, looking sad and really hungry.

"I'm hungry..." Ed complained, his stomach giving another rumble. "Damn you, Al... Damn you, Natalie ... Have you both lost your humanity?!" he sobbed.

"Now who are you saying that they lost their humanity? Especially after we got some food for you!"

Ed jumped and turned to see Al and me a few feet away from him.

"I snuck out with the food they gave me." Al explained. Ed teared up at this.

"Dear brother!" Ed cried as he tackled Alphonse into a hug, tears of gratitude pouring down from his eyes.

"_Sheesh_, you're so predictable." Al sighed as I snickered.

"Be grateful that your brother got you food." I crossed my arms across my chest, "Turns out, they hate the military because the owner here is a greedy, scrawny bastard in the military called Lieutenant Yoki, who just loves the power and money."

"_Hmm_... These corrupt official types are everywhere, huh?" Ed muttered, picking up his food.

"Seriously, it's like no one's sane anymore in the military." I groaned, putting my hand to my forehead.

"I guess, thanks to this guy, they don't even get enough food supplies." Al added.

"... I see." Ed mused, staring at the sandwich he was about to take a bite out of. "That Lieutenant Yoki's causing us a lot of trouble. I mean, military personnel like us aren't very popular to begin with." he fumed. "When I became State Alchemist I knew I'd get a certain amount of flack... But I never knew they would hate me so much."

Ed was a good person. It sucked that the military was so corrupted by the people in it that it made people believe every single person was like that.

And it pissed me off!

I sighed, "Ed, I am going back in now."

"So soon?" He asks, taking a bite out of his sandwich.

I chuckled, "Don't worry about it, Ed. I'll be back soon."

I walked towards the door as I quickly moved out of the way of three military men.

"Hey, you! Out of the way! We're coming in!" I heard the middle military man shout, holding a handkerchief by his mouth.

I blinked in surprise. That must be Lieutenant Yoki…

"Oh? Sorry!" I apologized as I ran over to where Khayal was standing, making way for three blue-uniformed men.

"Place looks filthy as usual, Halling." Yoki commented pompously, handkerchief still over his mouth.

Who the heck did this guy think he is?

"It's you, First Lieutenant. Welcome to this filthy place." Halling snarled nonchalantly. "What brings you to a shabby place like this?"

"Nice greeting." Yoki replied sacastically. He put down his handkerchief and pointed at Halling. "I hear you're late on your taxes. I know you're not the only deadbeat in this town, but don't expect me to ignore you." he informed Halling in his pompous tone which was irritating me.

"I'm very sorry, but we're barely getting by as it is..." Halling countered. He shouldn't even be apologizing! It's not his fault for his low pay! Yoki looked around the inn, turning his head left and right, his eyes landing on the bottles of liquor that were on the tables.

"_Hmph_, and yet, there is more than enough to enjoy alcohol..." Yoki muttered. "... I guess that means I can lower your salary a bit more?"

That…greedy…bastard!

His statement caused an uproar around the room.

"Wha-!?"

"Why you...!" Khayal snarled, grabbing a dirty rag nearby and preparing to throw it at the dirty little bastard. But I stopped him just in time, getting a quizzical look from the young boy.

"You're a better person than he is, don't sink to his level." I scolded the young boy.

"But…" Khayal tried to argue with me, but I cut him off.

"Let me handle this." My voice was low and menacing. Khayal noticed that I was really pissed off and nodded.

"Excuse me, sir?" I began, crossing my arms across my chest, "That's not necessary, don't you think? I don't know if your narrow mind can comprehend this…" Yoki twitched at the comment as I continued, "But that's NOT a way to handle a situation like this, and it's not right to do something like that because of your own power, and what's the point doing that? You have enough money already, don't you? What's the point in lowering salary? And what if the military finds out what you're doing to these people. You'll get court marshaled!"

"Young lady." Yoki began, "Watch your mouth!" Yoki snapped his fingers and one of his lower-ranked officer drew out his sword from its sheath. My eyes widened at what the officer was about to do, "Let this be a warning."

"You're going to kill me for my opinion? Well then…" Without a second thought, I quickly drew a transmutation circle and transmutated a sword, "Survival is first." I gripped the sword in my hand and pointed it at the men, "That sword you got there is so tacky."

The man swung his sword down and I braced myself to block the attack, but it never came. Blinking, I noticed that Ed had blocked the attack with his automail arm.

The blade broke into two from the collision with a snap.

"What?! It broke...?!" The officer exclaimed in shock.

"Wh... Where did this kid come from!?" Yoki demanded as Al walked into the scene, startling the other officer. "Who is this ruffian!?"

"Just a kid passing through." Ed answered simply, taking a sip from his cup of coffee.

"This is none of your business! Stay out!" Yoki continued to yell, annoyed.

"Well, I heard the Lieutenant was gonna be here..." Ed reached into his pocket and took out his pocket watch, showing it to Yoki with a grin. "... So I decided to say hello."

"... Eh? What's this?" Yoki questions as he leaned down to inspect the watch.

"Lieutenant, who_ is_ this brat...?" his lackey asks him, pointing to Ed. Yoki hits him on the head. "Ow."

"You idiot!" Yoki yelled at him. "Don't you know what a State Alchemist is? They work directly for the Fuhuer."

"You're serious? Not _that_ little runt!?" Ed's eyebrow twitched at the word 'runt'. I was actually surprise how easy Ed was handling it.

"This is my chance..." Yoki said.

"Huh?" Yoki's lackey questions.

"If I make an impression here, I might be able to make some connections at Central!" Yoki explained proudly.

This guy is so pathetic.

"_Wow_, you're really on top of things, Lieutenant!" Yoki slithered his way over to Edward, rubbing his hands together and a sly little smile on his face.

"I'm sorry if my subordinates were impolite." Yoki said to him. "My name is Yoki, and I'm in charge of this town."

I snorted indignantly; dropping the sword I had transmuted. He still wanted to play to get to the higher up in his rank. How pathetic!

"It must be fate that we meet here!" Yoki continues. "There's no need for you to stay in this pig-pen! Even though we're far from the city, we have some _lovely_ rooms back at my house!"

"Dirty and evil." Khayal muttered. I couldn't help but nod in agreement.

"Well, I guess that would be all right..." Ed shrugged, smiling kindly. "... Because the owner here is too _cheap_ to let me stay." That little statement got Halling angry, making him scowl.

Edward Elric, what the heck are you planning? You got to have something up your sleeve.

I watched him go, the three officers following after him. Yoki turned around and pointed a finger, sweeping it across the room and landing on everyone.

"Listen here, you lowlifes." Yoki shouted. "I'm going to make you pay every penny of the taxes you owe me! I'll be back!" With that declaration, he slammed the door close behind him.

People's greed and rudeness still surprises me to this day. Ugh! What a jerk!

"AAGGGH! That makes me so _MAD_!" Khayal screams, throwing his head back.

"_Um_... Mad at who?" Alphonse asks innocently.

"BOTH OF THEM!" all the miners responded. Halling walked up to me and placed his hand on my shoulder.

"Hey, kid, thanks for what you did there, but you didn't have to do that." Halling sighed.

"Well, it was my choice." I admitted, "And Yoki was ticking me off! Besides, he shouldn't have been treating you like that. You deserve better than him." I grinned back at Halling, in which making him laugh. He patted me on the back.

If only I could do something to help stop Yoki from causing all the trouble he makes. God! I feel so helpless. I hope Ed can do something about this, at least.

Come on, Ed, make some progress that I can't do.

**XXXX**

I gazed at the burnt remains of the inn before me. Everything had been burnt to the ground, leaving behind nothing but black and the putrid smell of charcoal. I had aided the townspeople in putting the fire out. Once extinguished, all the townspeople could do was to stare at the smoke and the remains the fire had left them.

"How awful..." someone muttered amongst the crowd.

"It is." I muttered truefully, seeing Halling's wife was kneeled onto the ground in front of the remains, hugging the slightly burnt signpost of the inn as she wept. Her husband stood over her, soon kneeling next to her and embracing her.

"Last night I saw some of Yoki's underlings hanging out around the inn..."

"Damn it... What a dirty thing to do..."

"...The reason dad tried to learn alchemy was because he wanted to save this town." Khayal began explaining. The young boy was sitting on the ground, his clothes having smudges of soot here and there, a depressed look on his face. Khayal looked up at Ed, who had his hands in his pockets. "Hey, Ed. You're good enough to create gold, right?" Ed just glanced towards Khayal with an expressionless look on his face. "Can't you just whip up some gold to help my dad...and this town...!?" Khayal tried to reason with Ed. But he just slowly closes his eyes shut as he listens.

"No." he finally answered coldly.

"Come on..." Khayal begged. "It's not like it's gonna cost you anything!" Ed, yet again, said nothing, his eyes still closed like he was in deep thought.

"The foundation of alchemy is 'equivalent exchange.'" he said in the same cold voice. "Why should I give you free money?"

"Why you..." Khayal growled. He grabbed the front of Ed's trademark coat. "YOU SCUMBAG! YOU CALL YOURSELF AN ALCHEMIST?!" Khayal yelled angrily at Ed, who didn't even give a sign of any emotion. I flinched at this.

Khayal glowered at Ed, eyes narrowed. The poor boy looked like he was going to cry any minute. Ed didn't say anything.

"'Alchemist work for the people'... Right?" Ed scoffed. He yanked his coat free from Khayal's grip. "If I gave you money now, it'd just end up as taxes in Yoki's vault. I don't feel like being used by all of you just to get by."

...He had a point there.

"If you're that desperate, then leave town and find another job." Ed continued, fixing his coat back in place as he turned his back.

"Kid, you don't get it." Halling said. Ed glanced over his shoulder to see the miners' leaving, Halling's hand on top of his crying son's head.

"...The mines are our homes... And our graves."

Ed shoved his hands in his pockets and looked up at the sky. I could barely see him biting his lips but before I could take a closer look, he walked away. Al and I quickly followed.

"How much culm do you think is here?" Ed asked us, turning to Al and I.

"Huh? One ton... Maybe two tons?" Al estimated.

"I would say around that area to." I commented.

"Okay. I'm gonna do something slightly illegal now so just look the other way for a second." Ed ordered us.

"You want us to be accomplishes?!" I demanded, my voice rising.

"If we don't get caught, we'll be golden." Ed grinned.

I rolled my eyes at him, "You'll still going to do this even if I try to talking you out of it, aren't you?"

"Yep." Ed nodded as he clasped his hands together to change the rock into gold. Flashes of blue light were around Al and me and the wind had increased.

Al sighed at his brother's antics, "He can be so reckless sometimes."

I smiled and giggled, "It's impossible to tell which one of you is the younger brother at points sometimes."

Al sighed, "Well, he can be a handful."

"I can understand that." I snickered.

"You know I can hear the two of you from over here!" Ed yelled as I snickered.

"Oh well, I don't care, shorty."

"SHUT UP, I'M NOT SHORT! YOU ARE!" Ed bellowed.

"I'm taller than you." I retorted.

"BY ONLY FOUR INCHES!" Ed argued.

"Still taller." I smiled as Ed groaned in anger.

"Why you little…" Ed began.

Al facepalmed, "Do you two always have to argue about the littlest of things?"

"She started it by calling me short!" Ed argued.

"Which you take out of proportion all the time." I commented.

"Yeah, because I am not small!" Ed growled, gritting his teeth.

"Your temper sure is small."

"Yours is to!"

"You're stubborn."

"So are you."

"Don't forget it!"

"I couldn't forget you even if I tried."

"Heh, yeah, I'm immortal in peoples' minds!"

"In the most annoying way ever!"

"Hahaha! Like you have room to talk." I teased.

"Brother! Natalie!" Al shouted as we turned to him. Praise the Lord he stopped our argument.

"Well, it's done." Ed sighed as the blue electricity faded.

"Ed, if you don't mind me asking, what are we going to do with that gold?" I questioned, pointing a finger and the newly transmuted gold.

"Simple, we're going to give it to Lieutenant Yoki in exchange for the deed to the mine." Ed grinned wickedly.

**XXXX**

"...Uh..."

Yoki gaped, seeing several pyramids of gold bars in front of him. His mouth, wide open while two of his subordinates, who were standing on either side of him, had the same expression on their faces, clearly amazed at the gold. Ed, Al, and I were standing across from them, rite behind the gold.

"Now... I'd like you to sell me all the rights to the coal mines and this gold is all yours." Ed stated.

"Wow..." One of Yoki's lack breathed, inspecting the gold bars.

"Is this real gold?"

Ed rested a hand on his chin. "Not enough?" he asked, tilting his head a little to the side. I couldn't help but smile at his antics, knowing fully well what was going to happened since Ed had explained earlier.

"P-p-please don't be absurd!" Yoki stuttered, putting his hands up while shaking his head. "With this much gold I can say goodbye to this miserable post...!" Sparkles surrounded the Lieutenant as he probably fantasized about what he would use the gold for. Yoki glanced over at Ed. "And also...um... If you don't mind..."

Ed grinned. "Oh yes! Of course I'll put in a good word to my superiors."

I was literally holding in the urge to laugh. Ed conned him so easily, it was funny to watch some guy about to get karma slapping him in the face.

"Oh, thank you,_ thank_ you! My _dear_ alchemist!" Yoki said happily, gripping Ed's hand.

"But making gold is illegal, so... in order to not get caught, I would appreciate it if you would write a document saying, 'The rights were peacefully transferred, free of charge'..." Ed explained.

"Oh, I wouldn't mind at all! Well then, let's do the paperwork right away!" said Yoki. He put a hand over his mouth. "My, you really are a sly one, Mr. Alchemist, sir!" Yoki laughed as he waved his other hand.

"No, no, not compared to you, Lieutenant." Ed replied, laughing as well with a fan over his mouth.

Al and I sweatdropped as the two men enjoyed themselves.

**XXXX**

"Hi everybody! What a lot of gloomy faces! _You're_ looking cheerful today! " Ed cheered loudly, raising his left hand in the air as he strolled inside the inn, Al and I following behind him.

"...What are _you_ doing here?" Khayal snapped, looking very angered and enraged at the fact that Ed was even in town.

"Hey hey. Should you be speaking like that to the new superior of this joint?" Ed jabbed a finger at the boy.

"What the hell are y-" Someone was about to yell at him, but Ed shoved some papers in his face. Pointing, the man asked, "What's this...?"

"Ownership papers," Ed explained, still holding the papers proudly. "They confer on the holder the rights to mining, sales, distribution and all subsidiary business in this town."

"How did you get this...?" the miner grabbed the paper to get a closer look at it. "HEYY! And it says it's been signed over to Edward Elric!?"

"WHAT!?" Halling and his son yelled, looks of shock clearly on their faces at the fact that Yoki could ever sell someone the deed.

"Correct! So from this moment on..." Edward spread his arms wide. "...THIS COAL MINE BELONGS TO ME!" he declared. Everyone's jaws dropped in the room. Their eyes looked like they were ready to fall out of their faces.

"But we're just a couple of vagabonds going from place to place." Ed explained to the miners.

"These documents will just be in the way... so..." Alphonse added in with a sigh.

"If only someone with a good nature and knows what's right for the town could take these off our hands." I did a fake sigh, putting my hand to my forehead.

Mine, Ed's, and Al's act seemed to be working well as Hallings started to realize what we were talking about.

"You want to sell it to us?" He asked us, "How much?"

"What... Afraid you can't afford it?" Ed smirked in amusement. "If you want something, you have to pay the price. After all, this deed is printed on high quality goatskin parchment, stamped with a gold seal. Not only that, but in spectacular feat of craftsmanship, the deposit box is inlaid with powdered jade. Hmm...this is the work of a true _artist_. And hey! The key is made of real _silver_!"

"Well, this is just a layman's opinion...but taking all this into account..." Ed hesitated as he looked up at Halling with a little smile. "...How about the price of one night's stay and three meals for three at your place? Would that be fair, Chief?" The man and his son stared at Ed in silence, probably trying to figure out what to do and realizing how fair; Well, in alchemy terms, it was.

"Oh... The equivalent exchange..." Khayal murmured, realization falling on him.

"Haha..." Halling facepalm, his shoulders shaking as he laughed "Ha ha ha ha! You're right, that _is_ expensive!" Halling banged his fist on top of the barrel. "I'LL BUY IT!" he announced. Ed grinned and slapped the deed on top of the barrel.

"SOLD!" He shouted, his grin growing.

Suddenly, the door slammed open, revealing none other than a pathetic Lieutenant Yoki, a look of shock and panic, clearly on his fault.

What was Yoki doing here? It didn't make any sense. Unless he's more greedy than I thought he was.

"Mr. Alchemist, sir, what is the _meaning_ of this!?" Yoki demanded as he pushed his way into the building, his two subordinates following in after him.

"Well, well, Lieutenant. I just sold the deed to the mine to the chief here." Ed explained, jabbing a finger towards Hallings.

"WHAAAT!? Yoki screeched, jaw dropping. But he soon regained his composure, somewhat. "No, but that's not what I'm here for!"

It's not?

"The gold bars you gave me have all turned to _rock_! Can you please explain that!?" Yoki demanded, pointing a shaking fingers at the small pile of rocks in his hand.

My jaw nearly hit the floor as my eyes bugged out in shock, glancing at Ed in shock, and then laughed.

"There's nothing funny about that, girly." Yoki whined, tears coming out of his face.

"I don't know anything about any 'gold bars.' " Ed chimed, looking innocent as I snickered.

"Please don't act dumb! We exchanged the pile of gold for the ownership documents! This is _fraud_!" Yoki yelled in outrage, making me burst into laughter once again.

"The deed was free of charge, was it not?" I smiled sheepishly as Yoki looked enraged.

"WHAT!? This deal is null and void!" Yoki turned to his two men. He pointed a finger at Edward, his whole body shaking. "You two! Take those document from them! _Now_! Huh?" He stopped his order as a miner loomed over him, an evil smirk on his face.

"It's not right to try and take someone's property by force." the miner said, still smiling. I nodded in agreement.

"It's not right to abuse your power." I added, still smiling.

"Sh...shut up. Out of my way, you scum!" Yoki ordered. But I knew his c"If you don't want to get hurt you better-"

"Lieutenant... It's not good to underestimate the strength of coal miners." The man growled, grinning as he cracked his knuckles. All the other miners joined him, picking up their tools with scary faces. Dread filled the three soldiers.

Soon enough, two of Yoki's men were down on the floor as he screamed like a little school girl.

I snickered as I gave a mock wave at the soon to be former Lieutenant, "Oh and Mr. Fullmetal Alchemist and I will be more than happy to tell the higher ups of your _incompetence and corruption_."

Yoki's jaw dropped as Ed and I both high fived each other.

"ALLRAAIIIGHT!" The coal miners cheered. "WE DID IT! BRING OUT THE BOOZE!"

I snickered and laughed as Ed and I both fist bumped each other.

"Nice work, Elric." I grinned, "Did something that I couldn't. Bringing a military man down without having to break a sweat."

Ed chuckled, "Well, I am pretty sure you could've handled him without breaking a sweat."

"Well, you're pretty smart and wicked with a plan." I snickered.

Ed laughed, "I sure am, Nat."

Before Ed could say anything else, he was dragged away by the miners as they tried to make him drink some beer.

Yep, that


	7. Chapter 7

**Alright I have returned! I am Awake and Alive! (Haha Skillet reference!) Anyways, I apologize for the wait. I have been really busy with school. Unfortunately, I thought this year was going to be easy, and I was so wrong. So far, I have had homework every day and have had six papers assigned in the first month of the school year. So yeah, I can't wait to graduate even though everyone has told me that college is harder than high school.**

**So, I plan on putting a poll up about this story. Look at my profile and see what it is!**

**Oh and also, more humor in this chapter! Only because the next chapter is going to be really, really full of emotions. And I think people need some laughs before the next chapter comes. **

**Ok, I need to respond to some anonymous reviews! Going back to doing this!**

**Izaya Orihara: (Chapter 4): Who doesn't love Roy Mustang! Seriously, the guy is a badass and hilarious to boot! Not to mention uses fire! (Sorry, total sucker for people who use fire)**

**Izaya Orihara: (Chapter 5): Yeah, because Religious hypocrites who use Religion to gain are the worst! **

**Izaya Orihara: (Chapter 6): Agree I hate to Yoki! XD**

**Disclaimer: I don't own FMA, only my OCs!**

"...How can this brat sleep through all of this?" muttered the man with a shotgun as he leaned onto one of the train seats.

It really _is _pretty amazing that Ed could sleep in a situation like this. At first, the three of us were riding on the train peacefully, searching East City for clues about the Philosopher's Stone, but still not finding anything that would work. Ed then decided to take a nap, and who could blame him? Anyone would be tired after pulling an all-nighter, researching ancient's texts for the Philosopher's Stone in New Optain. Of course, I was there helping him, but he _insisted_ that I should get some rest. Knowing that it would be pointless to argue with him at that point, I bade him a goodnight. Besides, I really did need it the rest.

And now, there I was, staring at Ed with slight wonder as he slept, snoring away while the train was being hijacked. Two men with guns had entered the train car and threatened all the passengers that if they make any some kind of move or resistant, a bullet's going to go through them. By the tone of their voice, it was no joke.

And Ed had slept through _all_ that. How the hell was that possible?

The passengers' were stiff as billboards, glancing nervously every now and then at the two hijackers. Some were even sweating beads of sweat, face pale.

"Hey!" the man poked Ed's cheek using the tip of his shotgun none too gently. "Wake up!"

But Edward continued on with his nap, snoring away.

"Why you..."

"Is there a problem, mister?" I asked raising both of my eyebrows at him.

"Problem?" The man turned and pointed his gun at me, "Your friend isn't being a proper hostage, miss. Can you wake the shrimp up?"

Oh shit, this man was dead.

That did it. Ed snapped his eyes open and with a stomp, Ed got to his feet, fully awake. His golden eyes glowed as a dark, menacing aura surrounded him. And by the look of his face, he was pissed. Probably by the man's rudeness and having his nap interrupted.

Oh and calling Ed short to.

"Huh? What?" the hijacker questioned, totally unaware of Ed's deadly anger. "You got a problem or something!? Huh!?" He slid his gun in front of Ed's face, threatening to shoot.

Ed just claps his hands, the gun's point getting mushed in between them. And using his alchemy, he transmuted the gun's point into a horn, twisting it for good measure. The hijacker jerked his now distorted gun back, staring at it with wide eyes.

"Wh-what the hell is _this_!?" the hijacker exclaimed.

Ed kicked the man in the face using, and I winced when I heard a small 'krikk', meaning that his head was snapped to the side. The hijacker fell to ground, unconscious. Al face palmed.

I groaned and rolled my eyes at Ed as another guy decided to raise a gun at him, "That was dumb, kid," the other hijacker stated, "We were ordered to kill all resisters. I don't want to shoot a runt like you but..." he said as he started to pull the trigger.

"Don't you dare!"

Before the guy could whirl around and shoot me, I kicked the gun out of his hands, grabbing his arm and flipping him over.

"Y-You little bi-" The hijacker was cut off with a kick to the head by Ed, knocking the hijacker out instantly.

"So, um..." Ed began, pointing a finger at the unconscious man, "Who are these guys?"

I smacked my forehead with the palm of my hand, "Edward Elric, what am I going to do with you?"

Ed gave me a blank look, "You hit the guys to."

"Only because he was trying to kill you." I retorted, "And I only hit one of the men!"

"I could've handle that third rate hack!" Ed snarled.

"Yeah, I'm so sure of that." I remarked sarcastically.

"Brother! Natalie!" Al shouted, snapping both Ed and I out of our spat. Bless his heart for stopping our argument at a situation like this.

"Did we just forget the importance of the situation?" I questioned, looking at Ed.

Ed sighed, "Let's just get to the bottom of this, ok? Before were at each other's throats again."

I sighed, "Sounds good to me."

**XXXX**

A few minutes later, Ed and I had tied up the hijackers, interrogating them to find out what exactly was going on.

"Besides us, there are two more in the engine room and four more in the first class car guarding the general," The tied up hijacker who I had flipped over earlier explained, "There are four in the coach car standing guard in different locations,"

"And the rest?" Ed prodded, smiling innocently while holding his fist up threateningly.

I swear, that boy was a sadist in the head sometimes when he wanted to be.

"That's it! Really! There's no more!"

"There's still ten more of them!" a passenger spoke up fearfully.

"What're you going to do now? When they hear you beat up their men, they might come to retaliate...!"

"Listen! You all need to calm down." I urged them, "We'll deal with the cronies, and you'll be safe here. Just don't leave this cart, got it?"

Al sighed. "If _somebody_ was more mature, this might have ended peacefully." Al glared at Ed and me, clearly mad about what happened a few minutes ago.

"You can't move forward if you keep regretting the past, little brother!" Ed chimed in.

"And let's face it, peaceful for those guys weren't going to help either way." I added, giving the Elric brothers a small smile.

"That's the spirit!" Ed nodded in agreement, "What's done is done. I'll go above. Al, you take them from below, all right?"

"Sure, sure." Alphonse replied.

"What do you want me to do?" I asked curiously.

"Nat, you go with Al." Ed ordered as a vein pulsed in my forehead at that.

"Uh, no; I'm going with you. And don't go starting about how dangerous it is! I've faced far worse and you know it!" I stated bluntly.

Ed groaned, waving his hand, "Fine, you do whatever."

I smiled, being confident that I won an argument with Edward Elric.

Ed opened the train window, sliding it to the side, and started to make his way out.

"Wh... who are you guys?" a passenger asked.

I smiled, "Just your typical alchemists."

"WHOAAAH! WIND PRESSURE! WIND PRESSURE!" Ed screamed, hanging off the window of the train.

"How uncool..." Al muttered, helping his brother so that he wouldn't lose his grip.

I just laughed.

"Nat! Take my hand!" Ed shouted over the wind, his hand outstretched for me to take.

I was a little nervous at first, but then gladly accepted his hand by grabbing his hand with my own. Ed pulled me up to the train's rooftop. But the swaying of the train and the force of pulling me made Ed go a little unsteady on his feet that I collided into him. "Woah! Careful there!" he chuckled at me, stumbling a bit back.

"Sorry." I managed to breathe out, panting slowly.

"It's going to be easy to lose your balance here, so watch your steps." Ed told me.

"You could've said that earlier." I retorted.

"Sheesh." Ed sweat dropped, "Do you have to be such a pain in the ass?"

I raised my eyebrows suggestively at that before walking carefully on the train. Suddenly, round of bullets pierced out through the train's roof. Ed and I quickly dodge the bullets before landing onto the back the outside of the back car.

"Whoa, that was too close!" Ed shouted, holding up his left leg.

"What happened exactly?" I questioned as Ed took his left boot off, revealing a bullet in between his automail foot.

"Does that answer your question?" Ed asks as I rolled my eyes.

"Very funny, smartass." I said sarcastically as I smacked him upside the head.

"Hey! Watch it!" Ed snapped as I laughed.

"Chill out, I am only messing with you." I stated.

Ed grumbled before standing to his feet, "I got an idea about the problems with the hijackers."

"Alright." I sighed before transmuting a sword, "I'll help in any way that I can."

**XXXX**

Ed had explained me what to do. He was going to use the train's mic to talk to the hijackers. If they didn't surrender, I was to pull the switch to the water that I was now facing and flood the trains, washing the hijackers away. Then, any one of the hijackers that remained was to be taken care of by the two of us. Didn't seem like too bad of a plan, or a complicated one at that.

"Hello hello. Calling all hijackers_,_" Ed began. "We have recaptured the engine room and the rear cars. This car is the only one left."

"Please lay down your arms and let the hostages go..." I added, "If you don't, we'll have to use force."

"What a joke!" I heard a gruff voice grumbled from the other side of the mic, "I don't know who you are, but as long as we have the hostages, we'll never give up!"

"You're just itching to shed more blood, aren't you?" I guessed, gripping on my sword a bit, "You should realize that violence leads to more violence."

"Don't try to talk them out of it, Nat they won't change their minds." Ed stated before turning his attention to where he heard the voice of, who I assumed to be the guy who was the leader of this hijack, "Passengers: please take cover! Natalie, do your thing."

I nodded before turning the switch to the water, "Let's get moving, Ed!" I shouted, taking my hands off of the switch as Ed did exactly as I told him to do, jumping into the trapdoor of the car. Not letting him have all the fun, I turned off the switch before jumping down as well, noticing Ed fighting a really weird looking guy with heavy automail.

"That's some cheap goods." Ed insulted as I laughed.

"Low blow, Ed, low blow." I snickered before cutting the man's automail gun with my sword, only managing to break the sword in the process as Al punched the man's lights out from behind.

"Cheap sword." Ed snickered before I hit him upside the head.

"Like you have any style!" I shouted.

"Better style than you! I have automail that's tougher!" Ed argued.

"What style? I'm sorry; Ed, but I can barely hear you over your height." I smirked with amusement.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A MICROSCOPIC SHIMP?!" Ed hollered.

"Oh boy, not again." Al muttered, face palming as he continued to hear Ed and me shouting at each other for the rest of the train ride.

**XXXX**

We arrived in East City a while later, the terrorists were taken into custody by the military and now, Ed, Al, and I were being greeted by Colonel Mustang.

"Hi, Fullmetal." He greeted Ed with a small wave.

Ed groaned, clearly not wanting to talk to the Colonel as he turned to Al and me, "I should've stayed out of the Colonal's jurisdiction!"

I snickered, "It's not your call." I said in a sing song voice.

Ed sweat dropped and sighed, "Don't remind me."

Al sighed before walking over to the blond girl that was beside Mustang, "Hello Lieutenant Hawkeye." He greeted, bowing politely.

The woman, Hawkeye sighed, "Hello Alphonse."

"Uhh…hi, I don't believe we've met." I smiled, walking up to the Lieutenant. I felt more comfortable around a Lieutenant, rather than the higher ups, but I was still a bit nervous, "I've been traveling with the Elric Brothers for a couple of days now. I'm Natalie, Natalie Trawick." I held out my hand for her to shake it.

"It's a pleasure, Natalie; I've heard a few things about you. I'm Lieutenant Riza Hawkeye." Riza stated, shaking my hand for a second as she let go.

Before we could talk, I heard a voice that made me startled. It was the main terrorist, and he really looked pissed. He somehow was able to break free from his ropes and glared at all of us.

"You son of a…" The man panted.

Riza pulled out a gun, and was ready to shoot at the psycho man, but Roy stopped her.

The psycho man screamed out of rage as he charged at Roy, but with one snap of the Colonel's fingers, the terrorist man was scorched by a sudden flame that came after Roy snapped his fingers, causing him to fall to the ground in pain.

Whoa, he's strong, really strong.

Roy walked up to the terrorist as other military man restrained the terrorist, "I went easy on you; if you resist anymore, I'll turn you into ciders, got it?"

"What the hell are you?" The weird man asked.

"Roy Mustang. Rank: Colonel. And one more thing. I am the Flame Alchemist. Please remember that." Roy stood arrogantly, giving almost a smile.


End file.
